The Story of a Mountain Lion
by rogers.forbidden.love.child
Summary: What if everything is a lie? A show for everyone to see? Push a person to far and they crack. And who will be there to pick up the pieces? Rated M for violence,language and sexual content. Gabpay,Chyan, onesided Troyella, Chaylor. Revised story.
1. Trailer

**Bold is narration. Narration is in Sharpay's**** voice.**

_Italics are action/ what is seen_

Normal is speech.

* * *

**You might know me**

_Sharpay and Ryan walk down a school corridor with people moving out of their way._

**They used to call me the Ice Queen, a Mountain Lion**

_Shows a black tattoo of a moutain lion with an S in the middle._

**This is my story**

_Shot of a top of a cliff with a figure standing on top of it._

**My name is Sharpay Evans.**

_Shot of cliff zooms in to just show Sharpay's face. A single tear falls from her left eye._

**This is the story of how I died.**

_Quick montage of images shown over r__ock music_

_Shot of a teary Gabriella trying to stop an very angry Troy from punching something off screen._

_Shot of Taylor and Chad shouting at each other._

_Shot of Ryan standing, looking totally defeated and with no hope._

_Shot of Gabriella punching Taylor. Hard._

_Troy with blood on his hands, looking down at his hands in horror._

This is your fault.

_Shot of Sharpay huddled in a corner shaking her head and crying_

No (whisper)

NO!!!

_Shot of Sharpay grabbing and swinging a thick piece of wood towards the camera. Before it hits the screen goes black._

_Close shot of half of Sharpay's face. Someone whispers in her ear but all you can see is their mouth as they are facing the side of Sharpay's head._

Everybody dies (whisper)

_Sharpay's eyes widen and the screen again cuts to black._

It's just a question of when (shot is heard)

**Story of a Mountain Lion**


	2. Puppy Dog

**I might not be able to update this much because I do have other fics which I have more ideas for. I saw High School Musical for the first time and I just got an idea for a trailer. But trouble was the idea was only for a trailer lol. This chapter might seem irrelevant but it really isn't.**

**O n I am open to suggestions as to the plot because I make this stuff up as I go along.**

_**Disclaimer: don't own it, just writing about it.**_

She walked down the hall, the envy of most of the girls and an object of lust for most boys. She smiled, knowing most eyes were on her. That's how she liked, wanted and needed it. If she wasn't the centre of attention, she quickly rectified the situation so she was. She liked the attention. But no one knew why. They guessed but no one knew the true reason she liked the spotlight so much.

She was followed like always by Ryan, her faithful twin who just happened to follow her around like a love sick puppy dog. He even looked like a puppy dog. He almost constantly wore a sweetly innocent confused look and his bluey grey eyes were just so trusting, like a little puppy dog begging to be petted. Shame that in real life those trusting puppies were usually the ones that got kicked. But after last time, she would never let him trust so easily again.

It had been funny though. When she had found out she had done exactly the same to that asshole as he had done to her beloved twin. As twins they had a sense for each other. They could kinda tell what the other felt and vaguely where the other was. When they were younger they had called it twindar. It sometimes helped them get out of the various adventures they had when they were younger which went wrong. But it had helped him that day.

She had been sat in English while he was getting changed after gym. Ryan had come out a while ago and was in a relationship with Jason. This kind of thing had happened before and somehow Ryan had managed to keep it from his twin. But this time he couldn't.

The cover teacher had been trying to grasp the concept of Shakespeare and was failing miserably at it. She was sat there bored, staring out the window, going over dance steps for the next auditions. Then she felt a sharp pain in her side, making her fall from her chair. She was surprised to say the least and her brain whirled to try to comprehend what had just happened. She added two to two and got four.

"Ryan," she whispered under her breath, concerned for her twin. She rose to her feet, ignoring all the quizzical faces looking at her. She moved as fast as she could to the door, paying no attention to the objections of the teacher. She sprinted to the boy's changing room, not caring for once in her life about herself and only thinking about her twin.

The catcalls fell on deaf ears as she looked around trying to find her puppy dog. When she found nothing but his hat she turned and found herself face to face with Troy. She grasped his shirt, pulling him to her and demanding: "Where is he?"

"Ryan?"

Her eyes provided the answer, telling him not to mess with her, not now.

"Duno. Erm showers?" she pushed him from her way and ran to the showers.

"Probably making love to his boyfriend," Troy yelled after her, trying to save face by making a feeble attempt at a jock joke.

She heard what he said, making a mental note to have a go at him later for saying it.

As she turned into the showers, she was shocked at the sight before her. Ryan was on the floor, with his shirt open displaying a huge bruise that she couldn't see the edges of. That meant it probably continued on to his back. She felt pure rage bubble up inside her and boil over. She let out a guttural scream of complete anger, giving Jason a split seconds notice that he was about to die.

She knocked him to the floor, straddling his legs so he couldn't move them, letting her fists swing into him over and over again. She didn't aim so much as punch and claw whatever she could reach. Then she felt strong arms wrap around her and pull her off of the no good son of a bitch. She squirmed, trying to still reach her intended target. That was when Jason got up and started to milk it and spread lies.

"She just came in here and jumped me! I mean look what she did!!!"

This continued as coach Bolton held on to the squirming twin. It continued until Ryan came into the view of the small crowd that had now assembled to see what the hell was going on. Suddenly everything calmed and Jason shut his mouth. Then he opened it again. And closed it again. This continued, giving him the look of a fish out of water. That coupled with his broken nose and bloody scratch marks gave him an overall appearance that would be found comical in any other situation. Everyone stared at Ryan and the state he was in. Then people let their eyes travel from Jason to Ryan. Everyone started putting two and two together and anger rippled round the room.

Coach let her go, letting her rush to her twins side. And from then the murmurs, whispers and rumours had started. Only the people who mattered knew the truth. The people who mattered being namely lawyers, the police and their friends. Yes the Ice Queen now had friends. And they were the only people in school who knew that Jason totally deserved what he got.

They were the very same friends who were now gathered around her locker. She smiled at them all and made polite conversation before the bell rang and they made their way as a group to home room. Before they went into the room, she excused herself to the bathroom.

She heard the door open behind her and let a smile play on her lips.

She turned, letting her lips melt into the other persons as their tongues met. She pulled away, gasping for breath after the passionate kiss.

"Morning Gabriella."

"Mmm... morning Sharpay," Gabriella answered before closing the distance between their lips once more.

**I know the ending was rushed but my mums telling me to get off the computer now so never mind.**

**But hey a bit off Gabpay action. What you ppl think? Like or like?**

**Review!!!**


	3. Hottie Superbomb

**Just to say that I don't hate Troy it just fits the story.**

They continued like this for a couple of minutes. A casual observer wouldn't be able to tell where one girl ended and the other began. Then the warning bell rang and Sharpay had to push Gabriella away from her. The Freaky Math Girl who was going out with the Wildcats Superstar was desperate for the Ice Queen's touch. There was a reason for this. Another secret that was kept from everyone. The Hottie Superbomb had changed.

He wasn't the same caring multitalented jock he once was. He had been changed by all the attention he received following both his casting in 'Twinkle Town' and his winning of the basketball game against the West High Knights. His ego had grown so big there was hardly enough room for Gabriella in their relationship. But they were the golden couple of East High. If East High were the social elite of Hollywood then Troy and Gabriella would be in all the gossip columns as Hollywood's latest hot young couple Troyella.

But in real life it wasn't Troyella so much as Troytroy. It was only Troyella in public. The relationship was really like another musical. Everything seemed fine and dandy but it was all just another performance. Off stage Troy wasn't in character anymore, he showed his true colours. He didn't feel anything for Gabriella. He didn't feel anything for anyone and, well let's put it this way, if it had a pulse it had a chance.

Gabriella knew all of this. She was even there were most of it happened. Well not when IT happened obviously but at parties Troy usually turned up with her and left with someone else. Yet people didn't seem to notice. All because they were the golden couple. They were the couple that gave hope to everyone regardless of whether they were in a relationship or not.

So Gabriella played along. Every morning she got up and got into character, the smiling devoted girlfriend. The only time she wasn't that Gabriella was when she was at home, away from the 'public'. This meant she was always someone else and was just going through the motions everyday and she hated it. She hated him for causing it.

Every time he touched her, her skin crawled. Everytime they kissed she wanted to vomit. Every time she heard "Gabi" she wanted to scream. Then everything changed.

One day she was just so fed up of it all she went straight home after lunch. She had lessons but she didn't care. She was so sick of everything. She just wanted everything to stop. It had changed from being like a musical into a sick game that she was forced to play everyday. Well she didn't want to play no more.

* * *

When she didn't turn up in home room that afternoon no one was worried. Troy was missing too so they automatically assumed they would be together. Well everyone apart from Sharpay and Ryan. Ryan had seen Troy walking into the changing rooms with some nameless blonde cheerleader because hey whose guna say no to a nameless blonde cheerleader? 

So they formed an unspoken agreement for Sharpay to leave and search while Ryan covered for the both. They couldn't read each others thoughts but they could get a weird kind of sense from each other that they could some how understand even though it wasn't in words. It had freaked them out when they were younger. Hell it even freaked them out a bit now but right now, they weren't complaining.

So before Darbus entered, Sharpay managed to slip out of the room. As soon as she was out the door she saw Darbus turn the corner of the corridor, her nose buried in what Sharpay could only guess was the script for the new musical. Sharpay looked around for somewhere she could hide and saw the doors to the stairs. She mentally cursed at whoever was listening and sprinted in her heels to the stairs. She managed to get through the doors before the sound of her heels drew the attention of Darbus away from the script.

When she was through the doors, she ran straight down the stairs not sparing a glance at the now confused looking Darbus whose attention had once again returned to the script in her hands.

She had just about finished cursing at whoever was listening she had reached her car. She got in and thought about the places that Gabriella could be. She decided it was probably a safe bet that she was at her house which was in walking distance because Gabriella didn't have a car. Her house wasn't in walking distance because Gabriella didn't have a car though, it just made it a safe bet that she was there. _O great going Ice Queen, now your confusing yourself when you don't have the time to be __thinking about things like this! And now I'm even calling myself Ice Queen!!! I need to stop hanging out with those basketball jocks! _

But she knew she wouldn't because they were the only friends her and Ryan had had in years. Apart from Troy. Everyone pretended they couldn't see what he did to Gabriella or jus ignored it but Sharpay saw it. She saw the hurt and pain and disgust on Gabriella's face every time the Hottie Superbomb so much as looked at her newfound friend.

Sharpay managed to convince herself that all the hate she felt for Troy and all the sorrow she felt for Gabriella was rooted in friendship. She had to convince herself that that was the reason she ran like she had never done before to Gabriella's house. That friendship was the reason she had left her designer high heeled boots on the pavement a block from the school so she could run faster. That friendship -coupled with the running- that her heart was beating like this.

She reached the front door of Gabriella's house after five solid minutes of running and caught her breath, calming her heart, while knocking like a maniac on the front door. When no one answered, her heart started to pound against her ribcage again. She decided to give up on the front door and made her way round to the back. Even though she had only visited the Montez household once, albeit only briefly, she knew that the balcony over her head was situated outside Gabriella's room.

_Why is there always a trellis or a tree by a balcony? _Sharpay quickly pondered before she moved to climb it. _She better be here otherwise __I__ am going to be majorly pissed!_

She reached the top of the trellis and clambered over the side onto the balcony. She peered through the curtain covered full length glass doors. She could see nothing but darkness so she let her eyes adjust.

_Oh god._

She tried the door handle and marvelled at the fact that the door was unlocked while she pulled it open. Then she wasted no time and ran to Gabriella's side. She was lying on her bed, pills lying all around her. She rang for an ambulance while checking Gabriella's pulse and making sure she really was unconscious. Once she knew that the ambulance was on its way she started to follow the instructions that the old, kind sounding lady had given her.

She tried to rouse Gabriella but when nothing worked she had to go to her last resort. "I'm sorry," she whispered softly in advance. Then she drew her hand back and slapped Gabriella, trying to wake her. She thankfully only had to slap her once more before Gabriella came around groggily.

She half dragged Gabriella to the bathroom. She had to throw up and remove as much of the medicine as she could before the medicine worked it's way fully into her system. She left Gabriella for a second, sprawled by the toilet while she went to where she thought the dining room was. Thankfully it was where she thought and had what she needed. She grabbed the salt off the table and a glass out of a side cabinet. Then she rushed to the front door, opening it in anticipation of the paramedics.

She tripped on the stairs, spilling most of the salt. Being of the slightly suspicious sort, she pinched some up as she scrambled to get up, throwing it over her left shoulder before cutting her losses and continuing up the stairs as fast as her legs would allow her.

She burst into the bathroom finding Gabriella exactly where she had left her. She went to the sink and filled the glass with water before tipping the remaining salt into the water and forcing the half conscious Gabriella to drink it.

Almost instantly Gabriella started to throw up. Sharpay managed to hold her hair back in time and direct her head so most of it went into the toilet.

She then heard people move downstairs and someone call out. "UP IN THE BATHROOM," she yelled at the top of her lungs so they couldn't not hear her. Then everything happened so fast it was blur to her. She saw blurs of blue which she assumed was the paramedics. She was pushed to the side and she finally had time to think. But all her thoughts were of Gabriella. She lost herself in her worry for the Freaky Math Girl. Next thing she knew she was ridding in the ambulance with the flashing lights and the siren and some weird contraption down Gabriella's throat. That was when she had time to review the events that had just transpired.

_I __ran three blocks and climbed__ a trellis for her. _She paused a second as a realisation hit her.

_Hold up. I ran three blocks and climbed a trellis for her!!! __And__ they call me an Ice Queen!!! _But she had to admit that she wouldn't do this for anyone else. Apart from maybe Ryan. But she still managed to convince herself that she had done all that stuff out of friendship. Lord knows how she convinced herself but she did.

When they got to the hospital, the once Ice Queen was left standing confused while Gabriella was wheeled away.

* * *

Ryan turned up later, having ditched sixth period after his twin had contacted him. Not through the freaky twindar thing, that didn't seem to work over long distances, but by the conventional cell phone. He was in Theatre Studies and had to dodge past the techno-phobe Darbus to get to his twin. But he managed to get past her and reach the car that Sharpay called her own but they really shared – he couldn't help it if he preferred to walk- and dug the spare keys that he had out of his pockets. 

He arrived at the hospital and immediately made his way to Sharpay. She was sat there, arguing with herself mentally over her feelings. He tried to consol her but got nowhere. Then a nurse came out and told them that they were allowed to see Gabriella and Sharpay moved faster than he had ever seen her move in her life. She hadn't even moved that fast when he had chased her round the garden with a frog when they were five.

He stood outside the door, watching his sister and friend. Then he heard trouble coming. He turned to see Troy making his way towards the room.

Troy breezed past, seemingly not noticing Ryan and went straight into Gabriella Montez's room.

* * *

Gabriella's stomach did a flip -and not in a good way- when she heard a soft deep voice say "Gabi" from the doorway. She turned and saw the last person on earth that she wanted to see. He came to the side of her bed and placed both his hands over her left one. "Are you ok babe?" 

She got herself into character again and thought up the line in her head, the line that her character would say; "Yeah I'm fine thanks. It was nice of you to come but I'm fine really, you can go."

Even though he was in character he could not hide the glee that flashed over his face for a second. The expression faded but the glee stayed in his electric blue eyes staring into her brown ones. She knew that her reply would get this reaction. He didn't really want to be here. He only came because it was what he should do. He silently thanked her for giving him an escape so early.

However he still tried to play his part, "Only if you're sure you're ok..." he said only half-heartedly.

She gave a slight nod and he moved to kiss her goodbye.

* * *

Sharpay, standing on her other side, invisible to Troy, clenched her fist. Gabriella sensed this and held her fist, unclenching it and lacing her fingers with her own. She felt the spark between them as Troy got closer and closer to her face. At the last second she turned her head so she was looking at Sharpay and Troy kissed her cheek. She looked in Sharpay's eyes and saw anger clouding them. 

She turned back to where Troy had been but he had already left to get back to the blonde he had left in his car with the engine still running.

* * *

Ryan let Troy shove past him without challenging him. He had watched all that had happened and smiled to himself. He walked away, leaving the two girls alone to find out their feelings on their own.

* * *

Gabriella again looked into Sharpay's chocolate eyes, no longer seeing anger there but something resembling devotion. She knew that look from when Troy had looked at her when they had started dating.

* * *

Sharpay looked into Gabriella's coffee eyes and saw sadness there. Tears welled up in them and started to fall. She moved her thumb to wipe them away. She had realised, during that short exchange with Troy in which she was not seen, that she was kidding herself. She had done nothing for Gabriella out of friendship. She had done it all out of love. 

Gabriella had not let go of her hand. The spark that had passed between them had now turned into an electric current. They didn't speak. They just stood there.

Gabriella felt a thrill run through her as she felt someone's touch. Not just any touch, not a touch that was only done because it needed to, but a touch that was done out of love. Having Sharpay's hand in hers was the best feeling she could remember. Then she looked into her eyes and saw love and her heart leapt. She let a true smile spread across her face. A smile that reached up to her eyes, making them wrinkle. Sharpay wore the same toothy grin.

* * *

It must've been a sight to behold, two girls holding hands, grinning like fools at each other. 

It had started as Gabriella just wanting the touch of someone else. Someone who actually loved her. But then it grew. The want turned into a need.

She needed Sharpay.

She loved her.

She was happy.

Troy had pushed her to the edge of a cliff but it was Sharpay who had pulled her back, pulled her away from the edge, pulled her into her arms. And that was where she wanted to be. Forever.

* * *

So this all lead to them being in a bathroom when they should have been in homeroom. 

Sharpay couldn't push her away again. They both loved the feel of each other as much as the other did. They knew the danger of getting caught but they didn't care. They had gone past the point where they cared if Troy caught them or found out. Gabriella figured if he could cheat why couldn't she?

Neither of them noticed the bathroom door open until a voice rang out.

"Gabriella?!"

Then they noticed the company she was keeping.

"Sharpay?!"

**Phew. That was a lot of writing. Usually I only write a page or two but now I've written five!!! H****ope**** u guys appreciate it. **

**Well review and tell me what you think.**

**And I know you might not think all this about Gabriella and Sharpay fits in with the story that the trailer foretells but it does. Trust me.**


	4. The Freaky Math Girls choice

**This is the first of two short updates today. This chapter follows on from the last chapter.**

**And big thanks to all my reviewers so far, especially to ka2or and StillThereForMe. I love it when I have the long descriptive reviews saying what you like and don't.**

"Taylor?"

"O my god Gabriella!"

Gabriella was still standing in Sharpay's arms so Taylor's eyes didn't have far to travel between their faces.

Before either girl could utter a word Taylor had gone from the doorway.

They shared a glance of fear when the realisation hit them that they had been found out. They ran out after her as fast as they could. They knew they thought that they didn't care if people found out but now they were faced with the prospect of people finding out, well they were scared.

They ran down the corridors to reach their home room, trying to catch up with Taylor. As they went through the door into their home room it was evident that the moment that they had paused to share a glance was enough time to allow Taylor to pass on the story.

Everyone stared at them. Most faces displaying shock, some showing disgust and some wore a sick glance that basically said "Yeah lesbians". The kind of glance that is usually accompanied by a nod. Like Joey from Friends saying "How you doin'?"

Gabriella just stood there and stared everyone else down. Sharpay looked down at her feet; she liked being the centre of attention but not like this. She was getting the attention for the wrong reasons. It brought back painful memories. But then Gabriella reached over and laced their fingers, giving her strength. Sharpay then brought her eyes up to stare into Gabriella's brown ones.

The whole class let out a collective gasp as they saw this. Then all eyes turned to Troy to see his reaction. He was in character, Gabriella could tell without even looking.

He got up out of his chair silently, a pained expression on his face. He walked over to her. He stood there with his back to the rest of class so only Sharpay and Gabriella could see his face. The most evil, sly, angry look was on his face as he grabbed Gabriella's hand and unlaced Sharpay's fingers from hers as he pulled her from the classroom.

She tried to resist him and stay with Sharpay but he was too strong. She didn't want to leave Sharpay on her own to deal with everyone. She didn't want to leave her Mountain Lion. But she had no choice.

As soon as they were out in the empty hallway Troy twirled her around and shoved her into the lockers. The anger that had showed on his face had changed into pure fury. His electric eyes crackled with pure ferocity. He drew back his hand and slapped her.

She opened her mouth to scream or at the very least whimper in pain but he moved his hand to cover her mouth. It also blocked off her nose, not letting her breathe. She looked back into those wrath filled eyes and understood that he knew what he was doing. He knew she couldn't breathe. That was how he wanted it, how he wanted her; fearful of him.

"Now listen here you little whore," he whispered into her ear. "You don't get to do that to me."

She moved her head, desperately trying to breathe. He shoved her head back and got right up in her face. She closed her eyes but could still feel his hot breath on her cheek.

"If I ever hear about anything like that happening again I will kill you."

That got to her. She opened her eyes and stared into his ones, defiance clearly showing. She bit his hand so he was forced to remove it to let her breathe. As the darkness faded from the edges of her vision she thrust face into his and whispered back in a dangerous tone "troy you can't hurt me anymore. You hurt me enough but now I have someone who actually loves me. Someone who wants to be with me. Someone who won't hurt me. So do whatever you want to me. I don't care anymore."

She moved to slide away from him but he just threw her back against the locker. This time however, they both heard something crack in Gabriella's back. She gasped in pain and he smiled, getting joy from the look of agony on her face.

"Fine then. I won't hurt you," he said nonchalantly. She breathed a mental sigh of relief, thinking he had bought her bluff.

"I'll just go after the Ice Queen," he sneered.

"You wouldn't."

"Wana try me Gabi?"

Horror flooded her body as she realised that he would. He would go after Sharpay because this was Troy, and he would do anything to get revenge.

"Glad you understand me."

He let her up and allowed her to wander away from the lockers, the pain in her back forgotten. He walked up behind her before she reached the door to homeroom. He grabbed her shoulders and squeezed them, making her stop walking.

"Now what's guna happen is your guna walk in there and ignore your darling Drama Queen. You will ignore her until I say so. Then, when I say, you will break her heart."

Gabriella stood in shock as she let Troy take her hand and lead her back into the room.

She did as she was told, not because she wanted to but because she had retreated into her own mind. She had to do this. There was nothing she could do but break the poor girl's heart.

**I know it's a crappy ending but ****never mind**

**Next chapter is... CHYAN!!!**


	5. The Best Friend & The Drama King

**Ok**** so this is a shout out to StillThereForMe**** and ka2or****. I see that you've reviewed and I smile lol. Seriously you're like the only**** two people**** so far who has reviewed every chapter!**** Sorry you thought it was harsh but it had to be done. And it is all explained why Taylor told in this chapter.**

**And everyone else who has reviewed! It makes me happy to see that people like my story enough to comment.**

**Any who I'm babbling so on with the chapter. I really should have left Chyan as another twist people didn't see coming but I couldn't help but let it slip. Plus I had to change the summary because some idiot copied it and wrote a stupid story. And I'm babbling again. Sorry.**

**And I know I said that I would be updating this yesterday but I went to the beach instead lol.**

**Sorry if any of the words ****I**** use offend anyone.**

Ryan spent the whole day trying to reach out to his sister, but it was like she wasn't there anymore. She had turned into a zombie. Gabriella had left her and taken her life with her. Of course it had been public like Troy planned.

Gabriella had tried to apologise with her eyes but the person who was once her Mountain Lion refused to look at her. Gabriella swore she could hear Sharpay's heart break.

Ryan was waking through the halls, pondering how to help his twin when he turned the corner right into someone's fist.

He stumbled back, looking at his attacker. "Chad?"

Chad stood there with Taylor behind him. They both looked angry. Really really angry.

"What the hell?" Ryan muttered confused.

"You!" Chad yelled accusingly.

"What?" Ryan yelled back.

"You and your damn twin," Taylor said, stepping in front of Chad. "Your both sick."

"Huh?" Ryan was confused beyond belief.

"Men aren't supposed to like men," Chad bellowed, raising his fist again.

"And girls aren't supposed to like girls," Taylor finished, letting Chad punch Ryan again. And again and again.

But this time Ryan punched back. Ryan shoved Chad away from him. The only thing that really got him annoyed was homophobic people. Both Taylor and Chad were surprised that Ryan could be so viscous.

After Ryan had shoved Chad away, Ryan could get away from the lockers and move. Ryan leapt at Chad, hands outstretched to push Chad off his feet. They both fell to the floor in a heap of legs and arms. They rolled until Ryan was on top of Chad. Before Ryan had a chance to land a punch, Chad tried to push Ryan off him which resulted in them rolling again.

Somehow they managed to roll into the stairwell, away from Taylor. They rolled down the stairs, both boys gaining multiple bruises. When they reached the bottom of the stairs Ryan stopped rolling almost immediately while Chad rolled on, only stopping when he hit the wall.

Ryan was first to his feet, he looked up at Chad with his bloody nose and split lip and went to help him up.

Chad looked up at the hand that was offered him and ignored it. Then he looked at Ryan's face and saw blood trickling down the side of his mouth. His hat was out of place and a tuft of blonde hair could be seen.

Chad started to rise to his feet on his own mumbling something about not accepting help from a queer. Big mistake. Anger sparked in Ryan's eyes and suddenly his foot was moving of its own accord into Chad's stomach. Chad fell back on the floor. All the anger he felt because of the homophobic abuse he had suffered he let out on Chad's face.

He punched Chad until his knuckles started to bleed. He then picked Chad up using some unknown hidden strength and pinned him up against the wall. That's when Ryan saw what he had done. The left side of Chad's face was one big bruise. His split lip was bleeding profusely and he was going to have a right shiner around his right eye.

And Ryan couldn't help but be reminded of Jason. He suddenly felt an overwhelming feeling of disgust ripple through him. It wasn't the same kind of situation but still... he was abusing someone when they didn't really deserve it.

Well the homophobic jerk did deserve something but he didn't really deserve the beating Ryan had just given him.

Ryan backed away shocked at himself. Chad spat out blood and smiled dementedly to himself. Then he started laughing like a madman. He was saying something to himself but softly so Ryan couldn't hear it. Despite the fact that Chad only served to remind him of the disgust he felt for himself, Ryan couldn't help but be drawn closer to him. He wanted to hear what seemed to be the psychotic ramblings of a deranged man with an afro.

"I... ass... queer..." was all he heard at first. His anger started to spark again but he decided to keep it under control until he had a chance to hear the whole thing. He got closer and closer until his face was inches from Chad's. He turned his head so his ear was closer to Chad's mouth, letting him hear clearly what the afroman said. "I just got my ass handed to me by a queer man..." Chad repeated over and over again.

Ryan brought his face away, puzzled. Then he looked up at Chad's eyes and it was as if he was noticing the Drama King standing there for the first time. Their eyes locked and Ryan saw something there he couldn't identify.

Quick as lightening, Chad shoved Ryan away from him into the opposite wall. But he didn't just push him, he pushed him away and followed him, never letting go of Ryan's shoulders. Then something happened neither one of them would have guessed could have ever happened. Ryan was stopped by the wall but Chad continued moving. Chad continued until their lips met.

Ryan's first instinct was to pull away but when he moved Chad moved with him. And then he moved into the wall. Hitting his head on the wall must've dazed him because he relaxed into the kiss. He relaxed into the kiss and allowed it when Chad turned the kiss more passionate.

"OMG CHAD!!!"

Chad, as if waking from a dream (or rather nightmare), jolted away as if he had been shocked by a massive electric current. They both turned to see Taylor standing at the top of the stairs, open mouthed in shock.

"YOU BASTARD!!!" she yelled before turning on her heel and running out of view.

Chad looked one last time at Ryan, a hate filled glare that would have made Ryan drop like a stone where he stood if looks could kill. Then he turned his bloody face and ran after Taylor.

This left Ryan standing there also open-mouthed in shock. His mind was just catching up in the events that had happened in the past five minutes. If it was at all possible his mouth opened wider before finally snapping shut leaving Ryan standing there, alone and bewildered. He then felt a great pain that wasn't his to feel. His mind soon forgot all that had just happened to focus on just one thing, one thought, one person.

_Sharpay_

**I thought ****I**** would leave you on a decent cliff hanger. Sorry that ****I**** didn't upload this sooner but it was so hard to write. I kept ****writing**** stuff and then hating it and deleting it and starting that part over.**** But hey I hope you like my first EVER Chyan. Review and tell me what you think. **

**Man Taylor has a nasty habit of walking in at the wrong moment.**

**I'm also sorry to say that even though I have many ideas for this story I probably won't be updating for a couple of days. For the past 3 days I've put all my energy into writing this and I haven't done any work on my Hannah Montana fics. So I need to put some work into those. Especially 'Confused Feelings'. And if you like this story you may also like my Hannah Montana fic 'Green is the Colour' and its sequel 'Long Time Dead'.**

**And big thanks to StillThereForMe for adding me to the c2 'Sidekicks Are Better Together'.**

**I know this is a long A/N but I want to change the name so any suggestions anyone?**

**Remember- reviews equal happy Forbidden Love Child**


	6. The Mountain Lion

**I know I said I wasn't going to update for a couple of days but I couldn't help it I had to write the next chapter. Is it weird that I'm hooked on my own story?**

Sharpay stood there, lost in her own thoughts when she was suddenly brought out of them by a sharp pain. She looked up, dazed and confused, to see Taylor standing there with her hand drawn back, preparing to slap the Ice Queen again. Sharpay watched through empty eyes as Taylor's hand fell again and again onto her cheek, forcing her head to whip round with each blow.

Taylor was amazed that the infamous Ice Queen was just standing there and taking it. She was screaming at her and hitting her as hard as she could but there was no reaction. If Sharpay hadn't been moving her head back to face in front of her after every hit Taylor would have thought the once Ice Queen dead. Eventually Taylor tired of hitting Sharpay and looked around for other targets.

That was the exact moment one Gabriella Montez chose to turn the corner of the corridor both Sharpay and Taylor were in. She turned the corner and looked up from her book when she heard someone yell her name. She looked up to see Taylor walking towards her. White rage bubbled up inside her, threatening to spill over the sides. This was the girl who was the cause of her misery, where did she get off yelling at her?

Then all the rage and anger inside her was wiped away as her eyes came to rest on the silent, still figure behind her. She pushed past Taylor, sprinting to get to the person that was once her Mountain Lion.

She lifted Sharpay's chin so their eyes met. She stared hard into those chocolate eyes she loved and saw nothing. She looked deeper and tried to kid herself that she saw something but still nothing appeared to her.

"Sharpay?" she whispered softly. She leaned forwards to place a soft kiss on those lips that always seemed to melt into hers. She looked back up to find a spark there again. She smiled as her love came back to her.

"G...Gab...Gabriella?" Sharpay stuttered as she came back into the world.

"O that is so sick," was the first thing Sharpay heard since Gabriella broke up with her. She watched as Gabriella turned on the spot and brought back her fist at the same time. She then crashed it into Taylor's face with such a force that she felt the other girls nose break and saw her eyes roll up into the back of her head. Giving a satisfied nod towards her unconscious back stabbing bitch of a friend she turned back to who was more important. They both stood there, both too scared to do anything. The awkwardness was broken by the sound of sneakers slapping the lino floor of the corridors.

They both turned in anticipation of a new arrival and were greeted by the sight of Ryan skidding round the corner. And skid is exactly the right word; the cleaner had obviously been overzealous with the polisher. School had finished a scarce ten minutes before and this corridor was always the first to be cleaned because it was the closest to the janitor's closet.

So Ryan skidded on the over polished floor, his combination of shoe choice and momentum propelling towards the wall of the corridor. He had run up two flights of stairs and down about ten corridors whilst also wiping blood from his face and not tripped once (not counting the incident at the top of the second flight of stairs). He squeezed his eyes shut, not wanting to see the wall rushing to meet him. He was about a second away from impact when two pairs of hands reached out to pull him away from his intended target.

He opened his eyes to find himself staring into what he knew were his twin sister's eyes. He could tell by the wrinkles around them that she was smiling. His heart leapt with joy and he soon followed it, jumping in the air and even doing a celebratory jazz square. He had to stop half way through the square however to prevent himself from tripping over a now stirring Taylor.

His eyes moved from Taylor on the floor to Gabriella, a questioning look on his face. She shrugged, feigning indifference. He looked once more from Taylor to Gabriella, giving her a sly knowing smile, before his eyes came to rest on his twin once more. He walked over to her, sparing a second to high five Gabriella on the nose job she had given Taylor. When he reached her he enveloped her in the biggest hug he had ever given her. He squeezed her tight, only letting go when Gabriella drew attention to the fact that Sharpay was turning a potent shade of blue.

As Sharpay took in deep breaths, restoring the flow of oxygen to her lungs, she couldn't help but smile at her dopey brother. She then turned to look at the only person she had ever loved and the only person who had ever truly broken her heart.

She stood up to her full height – with the added two inches the heels she wore gave her (she had learned to run in heels) – and looked Gabriella in the eye. She couldn't help but be drawn to her. She had died today when she had realised that she could no longer hold, kiss or touch the sweet rose goddess that had been her Gabriella Montez.

Both girls swept forwards to meet each other half way. Their arms tangled around each other, never wanting to let go.

Ryan stepped back, feeling awkward as the girls turned their embrace into a kiss. He turned away and looked at Taylor on the floor. She started to try to get up and the memories of her shouting at him a few minutes ago returned to him. So it was by complete accident when his foot hit her face.

"Gabriella" said a voice so calm but so filled with anger it was chilling.

Gabriella pulled away, fear etched on her face. She turned to see the person standing there so calm yet so threatening and her blood turned to ice in her veins.

Troy thundered towards Sharpay, a murderous look shining in his eyes.

Ryan tried to get in the way or to distract Troy but was shoved away, making him trip over Taylor's prone form. His head hit the lino hard, making fresh blood flow from the corner of his mouth.

He moved Gabriella, actually having to physically move her by picking her up and placing her behind him, so he could get a clear shot at Sharpay. He pulled back his fist, now that no one was around that mattered he could drop the act. He was just about to push it forward when Gabriella grabbed it, using a surprising strength that someone that small should not possess to stop his fist.

He turned now directing his anger at her, giving Sharpay a moment to think. She guessed that the earlier break up had been because of Troy but she was just so overwhelmed with the thought that she had just lost the girl that she loved. Now she knew for definite that he was the cause and she was stunned that he would do such a thing. She knew he was a prick but she would never have guessed that he was a malevolent and sadistic prick.

He shook Gabriella off his arm, shaking her so hard she fell to the floor. When she fell the blue top she was wearing rode up somehow. The one day she had chosen to wear low cut jeans.

Now her deepest secret was on display for the one person who could never see it, should never see it.

Troy looked at her on the ground, anger flaring his nostrils. Then he noticed something out of the corner of his eye. Gabriella rushed to cover it up but the damage had already been done. He dropped to the floor next to her and tore her hand away, ripping her shirt as he did so.

Standing there, on her hip, was a black mountain lion tattoo. And there in the middle, the only colour in the black tattoo, was an 'S'. It was the colour of Gabriella's skin meaning that the tattoo had been planned to leave the 'S' while the rest of the outline was coloured in.

His eyes travelled up her body from her hip to her face to finally stare into her eyes. He was surprised to find a smile on her face before realising that he wasn't looking back at him. He was about o turn to follow her gaze when a low growl could be heard, giving him a split second's notice that he was about to die.

Gabriella smiled as realisation hit Troy like a brick.

_My Mountain Lion's back._


	7. It's All About The Hat

**Big thanks to everyone who has reviewed ever on this story: ka2or, ForbiddenFiction, Skills, Love.is.like.a.drug, Bea14, StillThereForMe, Farah A, sammythegreatsockrocker and everyone who has added this story to their favourites or alerts or a c2.**

**Sorry if I offend anyone with the bad words **

_Where does that dickwad get off? __He broke me and Gabriella up and now he tries to hurt her? Like hell am I guna let that happen._

She let out a bestial growl as she saw red. She launched herself towards him, knocking him back from her love. She looked in his eyes and savoured the fear that she saw there. She drew her lips back in a snarl as she let all her anger out. She just let it all out on that pretty boy face of his. When she was done with him he made it look like Jason looked like he had gotten off easy (**see Puppy Dog chapter)**.

She only stopped when she felt a petite hand gently touch her shoulder. She suddenly felt fear creep through her. What if Gabriella was horrified or disgusted by what she had done? She turned, terrified of what she would see in her love's eyes. She needn't of worried though because when she turned she found her rose goddess beaming at her. She couldn't help but smile back.

She got up off Troy's body, being drawn up into Gabriella's arms. She leant forwards to kiss her again but was stopped by Gabriella raised finger, "One last thing..."

With that Gabriella walked to Troy and kicked him in the head before spitting on him. Then she marched up to Sharpay and kissed her passionately.

Neither girl knew if Troy was alive and neither girl cared. To them, they were the only occupants of the hallway. To them there was no unconscious Taylor, Troy or Ryan on the floor.

Sharpay pulled away as she remembered about Ryan. Gabriella tried to follow her movement so as not to break the kiss but Sharpay held her head in place. Gabriella looked enquiringly at her love but found her to be no longer there. She looked around, puzzled and found her lying next to Ryan. She couldn't hep but gasp when she saw him lying there, blood running down his face.

He had hit the floor, hitting his head hard on the lino. A cut that was bleeding profusely had appeared above his right eyebrow. Blood was also running down his chin from his mouth. Sharpay was trying her hardest to rouse him, to no effect. She was crying. Hot tears ran down her red cheeks as she pleaded and shook him.

Gabriella noticed something out of the corner of her eye. She managed to tear her eyes away from the distressing scene of the twins to see a beige coloured flat cap resting on the floor. It wasn't far from where Ryan was so Gabriella reasoned that when he fell it had come off his head. She walked to it and picked it up. She then walked over to kneel on the other side of Ryan.

Sharpay was getting more and more distressed so Gabriella took over trying to get him to wake up. She breathed a sigh as she realised she would have to slap him. She took a deep breath, asking for forgiveness under her breath before she drew her hand back to slap him. Sharpay couldn't help but be reminded of Gabriella when she had taken those pills. She held onto that memory to reassure her that everything was going to be ok. Everything had turned out ok then and everything was going to be ok now.

Gabriella prepared to slap Ryan again but stopped as she saw him move his head. He murmured and groaned as he came around.

He suddenly sat up bolt upright and yelled "Chad!!!" as if in shock. This made both girls jump before they looked at him confused. Sharpay's mouth fell open as she used twindar to her effect. She saw what had happened between the Drama King and the Best Friend. She closed her mouth into a smile and punched Ryan playfully in the arm. "O Ryan you man eater you!" she teased.

He brushed off the comment as Gabriella's mouth also fell open and her eyes went wide. She had put everything together in her mind and had figured it out – she was the Freaky Math girl after all.

Ryan looked at her and could tell she had figured everything out. "I hate that you're an Einstinette you know," he grumbled.

"You know you love me really," she said around a smile and winked at him.

-coughcough-

"But I'm already taken..." she quickly covered, smiling hopefully at Sharpay.

Sharpay rolled her eyes and burst out into laughter.

Her laugh was infectious and soon the empty corridors of East High were filled with the sound of the trio laughing. It wasn't that they were laughing at anything funny, more that they were laughing to release the tension that had been building inside all of them.

Ryan's laugh soon turned to a scream. He could no longer feel the weight of the always present hat on top of his head. He groped the top of his head, hoping to find it sitting there. But of course it wasn't. He looked in the shiny, buffed surface of the lockers lining the walls for confirmation that the hat was indeed missing from his head. All that he could see on top of his head was a mop of blonde hair. _Wow I really do need a haircut._

He let out a sob. It was his favourite hat. He loved that hat.

He heard giggling and whipped his hatless head around to see the source of the noise. He gave Gabriella a death glare before seeing what she held. He let out a yelp of joy, grabbing his hat from her arms. He then cradled it like a baby whilst brushing it down, wiping away invisible dust. Then he put it on his head, treating it like a solid gold, jewel encrusted crown.

He turned back to his twin and Gabriella. He could tell they were trying hard (but failing) to keep straight faces. He looked at them, giving them his best serious face. Unbeknownst to him he just looked constipated. So all he achieved was making both girls laugh out loud.

Ryan rolled his eyes as the girls rolled around on the floor, laughing so hard they had tears in their eyes. He got up and waited for the girls to stop but with him being the source of their hilarity, as long as he stayed standing over them there was little chance either girl would stop. So he shook his head in mock dismay and walked away.

It took about five minutes for Gabriella to stop shaking with laughter. She was lying on the floor wiping tears from her eyes. She rolled over to face Sharpay who had stopped laughing four minutes ago. When she had stopped laughing she had lain on her side and just watched her love, her rose, laugh.

She delighted at the sight. She loved it when Gabriella laughed, hell she loved it when Gabriella did anything. But the way the light from outside fell on her now, she just looked so gorgeous it was blowing Sharpay's mind. But when Gabriella turned towards her and smiled at her she was just struck by how this girl was beyond gorgeous; she was beautiful. In Sharpay's world to be beautiful you had to have not only the looks but the personality and brains. To be beautiful you had to have the whole package. And that was the definition of Gabriella Montez. She was as near perfection as you could get. She was the human embodiment of a rose; gorgeous but still with thorns which you couldn't avoid sometimes.

_How did __I__ get so lucky? _Sharpay couldn't help but think. She looked at her love and smiled softly back at her. Gabriella was lying in a pool of gold that fell to the ground through the skylight. Sharpay dived into that pool, drowning in it but not caring. She drank in the sight of her rose beneath her. Her hand rested on Gabriella's hip, tracing the outline of the tattoo that sat there. Then she traced the 'S' that was in the middle of the tattoo with her fingernail, knowing that Gabriella was ticklish.

As Gabriella squirmed she smiled again. Sharpay had known about the tattoo ever since she had got it. She had been there, holding her hand, comforting her against the pain. She had watched as the lion shape was filled in, leaving only the 'S' behind. That was when she had known that the only person for her was Gabriella.

Back in the present she was pleased to find that she was making out passionately with her love, everything else was pushed from her brain. She really should have paid more attention.

**Yeah I know the ending kind of sucks. In fact I think this whole chapter kind of sucks. Especially near the end.**

**And I know it's a bad cliff hanger but hey what you guna do?**

**It will probably be a couple of days until I update again unless I update a short chapter later. Depends on whether I write it or not... anyways yeah bye for now.**

**Review and tell me if you agree with me for the whole 'this chapter sucks' thing.**


	8. The Jock

**Right so I'm getting banned from the laptop tomorrow because I haven't tidied my room. But I couldn't just leave this story so I wrote a little Chyan chapter to tide you guys over until I get unbanned which will probably take a while because I am a lazy person who doesn't want to tidy their room.**

**That's right dear readers I did say CHYAN!!! **

**But if you don't like it then you can skip this chapter because it isn't really all that important in the grand scheme of the story.**

Ryan walked away from the girls, finally having time to himself to think. He tried to get his head around the fact that Chad had kissed him. The Afroman had kissed him!!! After spouting homophobic abuse at him and causing him physical harm!!!

He was so deep in thought that he didn't notice when Chad came around the corner. Chad saw Ryan and turned as quickly as he could, not wanting to feel like he did before.

It was true. The Jock was in love with the Drama King. He may give Ryan a hard time about being gay but he did that to hide how he was himself. He was scared. Besides he wasn't a complete queer, he did like girls too. He liked Taylor; he liked how her lips felt against his and how soft her body was. It was just that when he had kissed Ryan, he had liked it more. He actually had a huge respect for him and his ability to be completely open about his sexuality.

When Jason had started going out with Ryan, Jason had got the shit ripped out of him by the other guys. It creeped them out. They were suddenly afraid of him, as if he would pounce on them any minute. Chad didn't want that to happen to him. So he tried to scarper. But his shoes squeaked.

Ryan looked up to see Chad, about to run away from him. He called out trying to stop him and Chad couldn't help but turn. Unfortunately for the slightly dopey Charlie's Angels wannabe, he only turned from the waist up, so he was looking in one direction and travelling in another.

He lost his balance and started to fall towards the floor. He could see his own reflection in the lino it was that shiny. He could see his grimace reflected in the floor as he fell. He then saw the shadow of someone reflected as he felt a pair of strong yet supple hands grip his waist, stopping him before he hit the shiny floor.

He was lifted to his feet and he turned to stare into the bluey grey eyes of the person who had caught him. He couldn't resist the urge to lean forwards and kiss the owner of those eyes, those goddamn gorgeous eyes. He felt a chill of pleasure run through his body as their lips met for the second time in less than an hour. Then Chad felt Ryan pull away and the pleasure he felt left him.

Ryan opened his mouth to speak again but Chad spoke before he had a chance to utter a word.

"Look Ryan, I'm sorry for before. I'm sorry I called you all those things and hurt you," he said moving closer to Ryan and putting his hands on the other mans waist. "Ryan I never want to hurt you. I wish I could take back all I did earlier but I can't."

Ryan again opened his mouth to say something but was again stopped by Chad. "Before you say anything, I want to tell you something..." he leaned forward to whisper in Ryan's ear, "I love you."

Chad couldn't see it but Ryan was smiling. He somehow wasn't shocked. Truth was he had had the biggest crush on the Jock ever since he had saw him trying to imitate Charlie's Angels. He mirrored Chad, leaning in to whisper in his ear and putting his hands on the other guy's hips.

"Good good," he teased. He leaned away and looked into Chad's smiling eyes. O how he wanted to dance. Everything else was forgotten, it was only the two of them in the entire world. They again kissed, this time much more passionately. But Ryan was pulled back into harsh reality when his twindar senses started tingling again.

_What the hell is up with Sharpay now...? _he thought. He guessed that all it was was that she and Gabriella were getting a bit too happy. After all he had left them alone. But it was in the middle of a corridor and he knew neither girl would do anything like that there. But they didn't have time to get home.

He pondered all the possibilities in his head while still carrying on the kiss. Ryan was nothing if not a multi-tasker. In fact, he was more of a girl than Sharpay. He reviewed everything in his head.

_I left Sharpay and Gabriella in the corridor, they were laughing and having fun... maybe they did get a bit too carried away. _

He then realised something and he pulled away from Chad so sharply Chad was still pouting. He would have found the sight of Chad pouting to the air humorous but he was too preoccupied with running through the halls.

He had left Sharpay and Gabriella in a corridor. But he had left them with a seemingly unconscious Taylor and Troy...

**Alrighty ****then, another sucky chapter with another sucky cliff hanger but never mind. I thought of it and I wrote it. Should I delete it? And the previous chapter? Then I could redo them...**

**Anyways that's all from me for a couple of days. **


	9. Rage

**Room still not tidy. But did some work so Mum let me have some time on the laptop**** so I hope you appreciate it. Show appreciation by reviews thanks.**

Both girls were in heaven. They were together. Nothing else mattered.

Sharpay pulled away as she felt a thrill of pleasure that wasn't her own. She marvelled at her brother. He had bagged himself a man. She let a smile reach her lips while she looked down at a very cute and puzzled Gabriella.

She didn't waste time explaining what she felt happen. She leaned forward and, more forcefully this time, crashed her lips into Gabriella's.

As their tongues wrestled both girls were blissfully unaware of what was going on around them.

* * *

Troy woke up to find himself lying in a sticky pool of what he didn't know. He tried to open his eyes but felt only pain. His whole face felt like it was on fire. He raised a hand to asses the damage.

He winced as his fingers discovered his broken nose. He finally built himself up to open his eyes. But he wished he hadn't. He opened his eyes to find he literally saw red. Blood from the many wounds on his face had dripped down into his eyes.

_What the hell?_

He turned onto his side, gasping in pain as he discovered his broken ribs.

All this was forgotten though when he laid eyes on Sharpay and Gabriella. The memory of how his face got so messed up was suddenly all he could remember. Anger bubbled up inside him, boiling over into white hot rage. Rage that was directed only at the two people making out right in front of him.

_Sharpay_

He suddenly didn't care about anything. Not about his face, his ribs or nose or even that he was lying in a pool of his own blood. His thoughts all revolved around the two people in front of him.

He pulled out his pocket knife, extending the blade and sitting up. He got up, silent as a church mouse and manoeuvred himself so he was standing over the two girls.

* * *

Sharpay noticed that a shadow had fallen over Gabriella's face. A shadow she didn't cast.

Before she had a chance to feel fear or to even glance at the person standing over them she felt a cold metal on her neck.

Then a pair of strong arms wrapped around her and she was pulled away from her love. All she felt was pain.

**Wow this seemed longer when I wrote it. I'm banned from the laptop still but at least I can still write it. I've got the next few chapters written and will be uploading them when I can.**


	10. The Return of the Hat

**Yeah ****I**** know ****I'm**** banned but somehow ****I**** just keep managing to worm my way back onto the laptop lol. Well actually my Mums letting me do my mp3 player and while all the music is getting put on it ****I**** get to do this!!! ****But**** not allowed to use it until my room is tidy so probably last update for a while... but hey at least ****I'm**** updating multiple chapters!!! Even if they are pretty short... maybe ****I'll**** just combine them into one long one... but then it would lose the 'magic' ****I**** want it to have... mmm ****I'll**** see how ****I**** feel.**

Gabriella opened her eyes when she felt a shadow fall across her face and Sharpay get off her. She was about to protest to her Mountain Lion having moved when her brain finally processed what her eyes saw.

A very pissed off Troy was standing there, holding HER Mountain Lion!!!

Then she saw the glint of sunlight on metal and realised he had his pen knife against her throat. Her eyes widened in shock and she felt cold dread creep into her very soul. Yet she still had to suppress a chuckle at the bitter irony of the situation. _I brought him that pen knife..._

It would have been considered beautiful by most if it wasn't pressed up against a girl's throat. An ornate oak handle normally would have concealed the crafted steel blade. Elaborately engraved in gold leaf was his name on the side. Gabriella had gotten it for him after 'Twinkle Town' had finished, back when she had his heart.

"Now ladies," Troy snarled. "This is how this is guna work..."

But Gabriella wasn't listening. Her eyes were locked on Sharpay. She died inside as she figured out that she was the one to blame for this. _He__ warned me but still __I__ went after her. __I__ even gave him the thing he's holding to her throat! If anything happens to her... _she didn't even want to think about that. The look of fear that was on Sharpay's face broke her heart. But she looked in her eyes and only saw reassurance and love in her eyes. Reassurance that everything would be ok.

Only when spots of red appeared around the silver of the blade did she start to listen. Unfortunately for her, Troy was already in mid-flow of his terms and conditions.

"Troy," she whimpered.

A smile spread across his face as he heard the helplessness in her voice. He delighted in the fact that he had the power. But she had interrupted him so he had no choice but to teach her a lesson. He pressed his blade harder into Sharpay's neck.

"Troy."

This came not from Gabriella but from someone different. Ryan had returned.

"Troy, what are you doing man?" Ryan asked, shocked at what he saw. He knew Troy was an ass but still...

"What does it look like I'm doing, man?" Troy replied, spitting the word 'man' back at him sarcastically.

"Why?"

"Why? WHY? WHY'D YOU THINK?" Troy yelled, losing it. "THEIR MAKING A FOOL OUT OF ME! AND IW ILL NOT LET THAT HAPPEN! I WILL NOT..." he cleared his throat as he tried to regain his composure. After all he didn't want to appear crazy in any way. "I will not be made to look anything less than great. Especially not because of her!" he lost most of the composure he had struggled to regain on the 'her' and so punctuated his point by pointing at Gabriella with his knife.

Gabriella breathed a sigh of relief as he removed the knife from Sharpay's throat. Immediately she locked eyes her eyes on the chocolate ones that she loved so much. Gone was the reassurance, replaced by fear. But she also saw defiance there and that was bad. She tried to warn her love with her eyes not to do anything, to let her deal with it. She didn't want her Mountain Lion to become extinct.

Even though the metal had been removed from her throat, Troy still had an arm around her neck. She was about to do something like kick his shins or stamp on his foot or (and this was her personal favourite) bring her leg up between his legs; crushing what she highly doubted was there. But then her eyes met Gabriella's.

She read them like a book. She didn't want her to do anything so she wouldn't. _Ah when did I become so whipped? _But she quickly dismissed that thought, she had to trust Gabriella. She also had to hope beyond hope that Ryan didn't mess things up. She did love her twin, she really did it was just that... well he wasn't exactly the sharpest tool in the shed was he? He did leave her and Gabriella in a corridor with the guy who was now throttling her.

So she let out a breath, feeling the cuts on her neck bleed. She had no choice but to put her life in the hands of the person she trusted the most. That left her praying to every single God she knew that Ryan wouldn't do anything stupid.

Gabriella knew Troy. She knew that if she did anything that didn't resemble what he wanted her to do, Sharpay would die. That was a fact.

She saw Ryan and Troy 'talking' out of the corner of her eye. Well Ryan was talking and Troy was trying to keep his cool. It would have been rather funny if the love of her life wasn't in danger.

_Why is __Ryan__ even here? It would be so much easier if he wasn't. But he is so suck it up Gabs. You need to look out for both of them now. They're both counting on you... even if one of them doesn't know it._

She too loved Ryan; he was like her brother too. He was the only one who had always known about what Sharpay had affectionately called Gabpay. She smiled as she remembered how she had laughed when they had that conversation. _Snap out of it Gabs! Stay in the here and now! Right... ok... o yeah __Ryan. I __can't let him be hurt._

* * *

Ryan had distracted Troy, giving her time to think. She came up with a plan and decided to put it into action. She only hoped Ryan had the sense to run away. _But no... __Wait__... he wouldn't leave Sharpay like this. __Ok__ plan needs readjusting._

Ryan knew Gabriella would come up with a plan; he just needed to give her time. So that was what he did. He kept talking to Troy and came to the conclusion that he was a homophobic jerk. And that was an opinion that he just couldn't keep to himself.

"Now now Ryan, let's not resort to childish name calling," Troy said in a mocking tone that showed he wasn't all quite there. "Besides, I'm not homophobic. Guys and girls. If you think about it there's little difference really, if you know what I mean." He paused, winking at Ryan. "In fact I think lesbians are great! Very... erotic..." whilst saying this he turned his face so it was right next to Sharpay's. When he had finished his sentence he licked her and nausea suddenly overcame everyone in the room apart from him. Sharpay gagged, Ryan threw up a little in his mouth and Gabriella threw up a lot, all over the floor.

That was when Troy returned his full attention to Gabriella. She didn't mind though because she had made all the necessary adjustments to her plan. She made a small motion with her hand, hopefully unnoticed by Troy, beckoning Ryan to her.

He practically sprinted to her side under the pretence of being a concerned friend. Troy seemed not to even know he existed anymore. He was wholly focused on Gabriella and the girl he was holding.

He returned the knife to her throat, again pressing it into her soft flesh. She gasped in pain and a smile again spread across his face, wrinkling his electric blue eyes which were alight with glee.

Gabriella had snapped her head around when she heard the gasp. She moved her neck so fast, everyone (including her) thought she got whiplash.

She blocked Ryan out. She didn't like to do it but it had to be done. When he was ignored he usually got the idea and hung back from the 'action'. Besides she had to focus on Troy because he was demanding all the attention. And when he got it he usually didn't do anything to try to get more.

_There's that word __again__! Usually! My plan is based around usually's!!! Damn __I__ wish __I__ had some facts._

But there was only one fact she had been able to get from this new Troy. He was dangerous. Apart from that she knew nothing for certain. Not any more. She didn't know this new Troy. She had only glimpsed him this morning. She was surprised that he wasn't foaming at the mouth.

_Nothing is fact when your dealing with someone whose been pushed to far._

That thought scare her more than the thought of losing Sharpay did.

She was the Freaky Math Girl! She dealt with facts! Hell she could even work with most opinions! But not with unknowns. And that was exactly what Troy had become. An unknown.

"Alright ladies, this is how this is guna work," Troy started, not realising he was starting again. Which was good because he hated repeating himself.

Troy was about to start again when he saw the clock hanging on the wall in the middle of the hallway. _Wow is that really the time? Hmm __I__ guess time really does fly when __you're__ having fun. But __I__ really have to go. Someone will be waiting for me. I can't remember but is today the __blondes'__ day? _

He looked back at Gabriella and snarled at her.

"Now I only have time to give you the cliff notes version I'm afraid ladies, but I still think you'll get the main point of my idea," he said through the snarl. "You two so much as look at each other and I won't just kill you, I will make you wish you were dead. Coz we all now I can make your life hell." He demonstrated his point by moving his knife to Sharpay's shoulder which was left exposed by her white tank top. He then drew the blade slowly in a straight vertical line down her shoulder blade. He felt her shiver and a chill of pure pleasure ran through him.

Sharpay let Troy see no sign that she felt any pain. The only indication that she felt anything was in her eyes. Her eyes which were locked on Gabriella's. Somehow she was drawing strength from her and somehow just looking into those chestnut eyes made everything seem ok.

But that didn't mean it was. Troy smiled a smile that only the devil could have smiled. He locked his eyes on Gabriella's and bared his teeth in a smile that should never appear on a human face. It twisted and contorted his features and to Gabriella and the unnoticed Ryan he seemed the embodiment of evil. Then he ran his tongue over his teeth and Gabriella knew what he was about to do. He was going to brand her. And she could do nothing but watch.

He moved his knife into position to draw the top line of the 'T' when he heard a snarl. A snarl born from a deep rage. A snarl that one would have thought could only come from the lips of a feral animal. A snarl he had heard only once before but it couldn't have come from the same source because he was standing with his arm around her neck.

He immediately looked up and saw nothing but a flash of beige before he was knocked to the ground.

**Ok I'm guna try for one more quick super short update before I'm kicked off the laptop. If I can't though I'm sorry.**


	11. The Rage of the Hat

**Ok this is my last update probably for a while. ****It's super short but hey ****I**** think it kinda works.**

He was being ignored. That meant that Gabriella wanted him to stay in the background, to not be noticed. He reluctantly did what he was 'told' to do.

He worked hard to control his temper. Just because he wasn't seen didn't mean he couldn't see them and what they did. Far from it actually. Being in the background allowed him to observe. It allowed him to take in things people involved in the 'action' would miss. He took in every detail of a situation and learned from it. He learned from others mistakes.

When he saw blood on Sharpay's neck it took all of his self control not to launch himself at Troy. _I have to stay unseen. It's what Gabriella wants. It's part of her plan. Granted a plan __I__ don't know but __I__ have to trust her. Sharpay's life is at stake. Heehee __I__ sound so dramatic._

Then the blood he saw started to run down Sharpay's neck and he could only stare daggers at the pretty boy with the not-so-pretty face. He smirked as he recognised his twins' handiwork. But then Troy started to cut his sister and he could do nothing but clench his fist. He felt hot blood run down his closed fist and he realised how hard he had pressed his fingers into his palm.

Then came the smile. The toothy grin that reminded him of a demon or vampire. He truly looked evil.

As realisation washed over him, his jaw dropped.

_He wouldn't!_

Troy moved his knife to show he would and Ryan felt himself snarl.

_Time to come out the background._

**I'll write more coz I have a lot of plans for this story. Next few chapters might take a long time to write though because I really want those chapters to be perfect. But then again I am impatient so you never know.**

**I am actually kind of tiding my room btw so u all better appreciate this. Coz my room is a tip. And I'm lazy. I don't like physical labour.**

**Please review**

**The Forbidden Love Child of Roger**

**X **


	12. Don't Mess With the Hat

**So ****I**** spent all morning "tidying" my room. So mum gives me an hour on the laptop.**

**If ****you're**** lucky ****I**** might do some more "tidying" after lunch so ****I**** can get another hour so ****I**** can actually post this or write another update!**

**Italics are thoughts btw if you hadn't already figured that out.**

**StillThereForMe, ka2or, Forbiddenfiction and Farah A gotta thank you for being my constant reviewers.**** And I can say that Chad will be back, don't think he will be in this chapter but hey he will be back. But will it be for a good reason?**

Ryan barrelled into Troy with the force of a charging rhino. He knocked him to the ground and let him have it. Gabriella saw the similarity between the twins. They handed Troy his ass in the same way, punching and clawing whatever they could get. This made her smile as she watched the fight in front of her unfold.

When Troy had fallen he had taken Sharpay with him. After landing on Troy hard with her elbow sticking out, getting him the ribs, she found herself sandwiched between what she knew was a crazy man and what she sensed to be a very very angry twin. _So not really a good place to be._

So she tried to roll away and when Troy attempted to stop her she bit him. His grunt of pain soon became a scream because that was when Ryan clawed his neck with his sharp, surprisingly feminine nails.

When the three of them had fallen to the floor, Troy's knife had fallen from his hand and Ryan had accidently kicked it to just out of reach. After Sharpay had gotten away she saw the knife and tried to get it. She grabbed it and managed to stab it into Troy's leg as he tried to get up and away from Ryan. He fell to the floor again, trying to pull the knife out his leg. But Ryan got there first and batted his hand away from the handle. He pulled it out, twisting it as he did so, so as to cause Troy the maximum amount of pain.

* * *

After having stabbed Troy, Sharpay succumbed to blood loss. The cut on her shoulder didn't look that bad but it actually was quite deep. She collapsed and Gabriella came into her field of vision. Everything was fuzzy and unfocused. She felt herself being turned over by Gabriella.

Having Sharpay lying on her front allowed Gabriella to inspect her shoulder wound close up. There was blood steadily flowing from it, obscuring her skin. Seeing no other choice she tore a strip from Sharpay's top which was already ruined due to the blood covering her back. Using it, she tried to wipe the wound and applied pressure to stem the flow. As she was pressing on Sharpay's shoulder, her eyes wandered back to the two boys fighting on the floor.

She again saw the glint of sunlight off the metal of the knife blade and felt fear run through her. She heard Sharpay moan and felt her squirm so she happily returned her attention to her wounded Mountain Lion.

Worry filled her as she removed the strip of what used to be a fetching white tank top from Sharpay's shoulder. She saw the gleam of white bone through the cut and she suddenly comprehended how deep Troy had really cut her. She had to remind herself to breathe as she took in that she really could lose Sharpay. She needed to stop her bleeding otherwise she would bled out and die.

* * *

Ryan saw Sharpay collapse out of the corner of his eye. It killed him to do so but he had to block her out. He had to be totally focused on Troy because he if he made one wrong move he would be dead. He was always being blocked out so this was his kind of revenge. At least that's how he tried to justify it in his head.

He backed off from Troy, knife in his hand. He waited for his moment to strike.

Both boys stayed the same distance from each other, circling. It's lucky that the corridor was wide enough for them to do this otherwise they might not have looked macho enough with one of them holding a knife and the other dripping blood all over the place. No the circling just upped the macho-ness to an acceptable level.

Ryan decided to do what he did best; act. He acted like Troy. He let a smirk play on his face which he knew would infuriate Troy. The rage he had felt had started to lift from him, clearing his mind. It left his senses sharp and focused beyond what they usually would be. He saw everything clearer, heard every single sound and felt even the smallest of vibrations. He liked to think that he had somehow unlocked a superpower that was hidden inside of him but the truth was that the adrenaline running through his blood was the cause.

He smirk grew into the best interpretation he could do of that smile Troy had done earlier. The demon smile. It was then Troy's turn to growl. He launched himself at Ryan and Ryan easily side stepped him. He smiled a true smile, safe in the knowledge that he could provoke Troy into doing something rash by pressing the right buttons.

But the only problem was that Troy also knew what buttons to press. He knew Ryan's main weakness. But he was playing that advantage close to his chest. He was letting Ryan have these small victories. He was letting himself be provoked by Ryan into doing something 'rash'.

On the outside he was snarling and bleeding but on the inside he was laughing. He found the look of superiority on Ryan's face hilarious. He played this game a couple of more times figuring that he couldn't go to meet whats-her-name looking like he did so he might as well stay a while and have some more fun with the Evans twins.

Ryan chose his moment carefully. When Troy opened his mouth to try to say something Ryan pounced. He sprang towards Troy, knife extended in his arm. Big mistake.

Troy shifted his weight to the right, letting Ryan soar past him. Then he turned on a dime so he was facing The Drama Kings back.

With the athletic precision that being the Playmaker brought him, he was able to grab Ryan's arm before he was even able to acknowledge that he had missed Troy. He twisted it behind his back, making Ryan drop the knife that was technically his. As he bent down to snatch the knife of the ground, a knee rushed up to met his face and little stars exploded into his vision.

Ryan used this opportunity to grab the knife off the ground and to try to stab a double over Troy who was clutching his face.

But Troy recovered fast and was able to dodge the knife that was thrust at him. He dodged to the left, firmly grasping Ryan's right arm to flip him over his back.

Ryan landed hard on his back on the lino and felt the knife be wrestled from his grasp. As soon as he could no longer feel the knife in his hand he got up, ignoring the protest that his body screamed back at him.

But that was what Troy was expecting. When Ryan got up, he was there to meet him.

He watched as Ryan's eyes grew wide with shock at him being so close. Then he watched, intrigued as the look on Ryan's face changed into one of defeat. He stared into his blue-grey eyes and was fascinated as he watched the flames of hope in them extinguish.

* * *

Sharpay was drifting in and out of consciousness. She was aware of the cut on her back and the fact that Gabriella was trying to help her. She was also aware that Ryan was fighting Troy with a knife. But what she saw was in bits and pieces. She saw something then she would succumb to the black of unconsciousness and the scene would have totally changed. For instance:

She saw Ryan springing at Troy with the knife in his hand.

Black.

Then she saw Ryan hit the floor in front of her. With fresh blood running from his mouth.

**OMG TROY KILLED RYAN!!! BUT DID HE? Would I honestly kill Ryan off now? Would I have the balls to have Ryan no more in this story? But what about Chyan? I said Chad will be back didn't I? And without Ryan there really is no reason for him to be in this story. **

**Next chapter funeral scene!**

**Only kidding you. I wouldn't write a funeral scene.**

**And what about Sharpay and Gabriella? With Ryan no longer able to protect them what will Troy do to them?**

**Find out next time on... ok I'm not guna do it coz that would just be cheesy.**

**Anyway if you're lucky I might have "tidied" my room enough so I can use the laptop again so I can update. Coz I've got plans for this story... big plans.**

**And now I'm babbling. Sorry but I tend to do that when I'm sleep deprived and running on sugar. Which I am because we just got a puppy and it won't sleep!!! Seriously!!! All it does is bite, scratch, jump, run and poop. It's a poop machine!!! Bloody mutt!**

**And I'm back to babbling.**

**Ach eye.**

**I will now leave you.**

**I bid you good day.**

**The Forbidden Love Child of Roger**

**X**


	13. When Left Alone the Children Will Fight

**Ok**** then ****I'm**** guessing the last chapter didn't go down all that well with people...?**

**And I don't know how but the ban seems to have been forgotten about. ****So yay me! Anyway ****I**** hope that this chapter makes up for the last one.**

**I**** now have the whole story planned out but don't know how many more chapters there will be.**

Sharpay stared in horror. _No this can't be happening._

Before she had a chance to register the fact that she could still sense Ryan using her trusty Twindar, she was dragged to her feet. She turned, fist ready to punch whoever it was. But then she saw it was Troy and she turned her fist into a claw, swiping at his face. This forced Troy to back away but he didn't quite move fast enough.

Sharpay's nails tore into Troy's face, narrowly missing his left eye and leaving three long gashes down his cheek. He let out a shriek of pain and fell back, pressing his hand to his cheek like it could heal the new bloody wounds that were there.

Sharpay however didn't let up. She stayed on the offensive, not letting Troy have a moment to compose himself. She followed up the scratch with a mean left hook that sent Troy reeling. Sharpay made to follow him but slipped on the polished floor which was now covered with all manner of bodily fluids.

Troy took this as his moment to strike. He hobbled forwards, barrelling into Sharpay and forcing her into the wall of lockers. She didn't hit the lockers all that hard but in her weakened state, the impact felt ten times worse. She slid down the wall, leaving a trail of blood in her wake from her wounded shoulder.

This gave Troy a moment to think and process what had just happened. He looked down at his hands in horror and found them covered with blood. _Ryan's blood. OMG what did __I__ do?__ Wait. Since when did I have a conscience?_

He shook his head to get rid of his thoughts and the little voice that he assumed was his conscience. _Actually __I__ haven't heard from you in a while, how've you been?_

**_O I've been ok thanks, just thought I'd take a little nap... and OMG what did you do? God I leave you alone for maybe five months and you turn into a complete retard you retard!!! Geez Louise_**

_Hey I resent the retarded name calling. And don't you ever call me Louise!!! Coz you know what I can do to you..._

**_Dude you really have lost it._**

_Wtf you on about voice in my head?_

**_Ok let's review:_**

**_1) You've stabbed someone_**

**_2) You're having a conversation with me_**

**_3) You're threatening me._**

_Yeah and your point is...?_

**_I'm you! The me you are threatening is you! You are basically threatening yourself!!!_**

_And yet your point is...?_

**_My point is you're a sadistic retarded idiot!!! Ahh fuck it, I'm having another nap..._**

And then his head was filled with snoring, leaving him beyond confused.

* * *

Sharpay had surpassed feeling pain. It was surprising how when you've felt like your entire body is on fire for more than five minutes you don't notice it anymore. That could have been because at that point you retreat into your mind, into where it's safe. She sensed Ryan and still tried to reach him somehow (she didn't know the specifics of Twindar but she knew how to use it). Than she was pulled back into reality by a voice accusing her:

"This is all your fault."

She looked up at Troy, horrified by his words. They hurt her more than any physical wound he could inflict upon her. Especially when she recognised the truth behind them.

She looked up at Troy and found him staring at his hands, a mix of confusion and horror on his face. Then he straightened up, standing as tall as his injured body would allow. The confusion and horror left his face, replaced with a look of pride that churned Sharpay's stomach.

Her eyes met his and an unspoken understanding was reached. An understanding of just how far Troy would go to protect himself and his reputation. The fear and horror Troy saw in Sharpay's eyes made him feel nothing. Nothing apart from a twinge of loathing. But he couldn't tell if it was towards her or himself so he quickly dismissed it. Looking around the corridor he still felt nothing as he surveyed the chaos he had caused.

When Troy looked around the room, Sharpay followed his gaze. She saw the still unconscious Taylor, her brother who she was relieved to see was conscious (he even made a feeble attempt at a smile but when Troy looked at him he played dead) and she could even make out patches of the actually floor through the vomit and blood coating the floor. There was only one think she didn't see. It was the one thing above all else that she wanted to see. She searched the corridor with her gaze but quickly returned her eyes to Troy. He obviously had not noticed someone was missing from this little scene and Sharpay intended to keep it that way.

She watched him turn and leave and the darkness of unconsciousness threatened to overcome her again. Her one last thought before it all went black was of her love.

_Gabriella..._

**I'm quite pleased with how this chapter turned out.**

**Hope this makes up for the last chapter.**

**Again please review.**

**Now leave me to watch Heroes.**

**T.F.L.C.O.R**

**X**


	14. Coming Out The Closet

**Thanks for all your reviews my faithful readers. And thank you even to all the people who read this but don't leave a review.**

**Also looks like I spoke to soon about the ban being forgotten. I hate it when parents are devious and lull you into a false sense of security.**

**I'm sorry that the conscience thing seemed out of place, ****I**** just wanted to show that Troy really was mental by having him threaten himself when he could have easily finished Sharpay off.**

**Methinks this will be a short one.**

Gabriella was freaking out. She had realised that Toy would never leave while she was present so she took the opportunity of the fight to hide. She had managed to clean up her Mountain Lion's shoulder pretty well so, even though it broke her inside to do so, she hid. She tried to justify her hiding in her head but whatever way she spun it she thought of herself as a coward.

When Sharpay lapsed into unconsciousness and Troy was in the middle of brawling with Ryan, she darted to the only place she could think of... the janitors closet.

She left the door open a crack so she could see what was going on.

She covered her mouth to muffle her gasp when Ryan hit the floor. She left it there to again muffle the sound that came from deep within her throat when Troy picked up Sharpay. She then smiled as she saw her Mountain Lion come out again. She laughed when she saw the bloody marks left on Troy's face after Sharpay struck. She caught herself mid-laugh and snapped her mouth shut so hard her teeth clicked together.

She allowed herself to smile when it seemed Sharpay had the upper hand. That smile soon faded when Troy slammed her love into the locker. She winced, feeling her loves' pain.

Her hand again covered her mouth, this time to try to cover the small gasp that passed her lips at the sight of Sharpay leaving a trail of blood as she slid down the lockers.

She looked at Troy. He had his back to her. It would be so easy to just jump out and attack him. She reckoned she could easily take him with him being so weak. But as much as she wanted to step forward, to burst out of this closet and throttle that no good sonofabitch, her feet just wouldn't move.

That was when she realised deep down that she didn't want to.

She didn't want to burst out of the safety of this closet and open a can of whoop ass on that pathetic excuse for a human being. She was shocked at her own cowardice. She felt literally sick at herself.

A realisation hit her like a wave. A big 100ft tidal wave. Complete with white foam. It washed over her, enveloping her in its chilling embrace.

_I caused this._

She couldn't help but slide down the wall until she was sitting on the floor.

_O__ god. I can't. I just can't. I have to do this. __She'll__ thank me someday. Or not... _

She didn't like the thought of it but hey it had to be done.

She puffed herself up, trying to gather her courage. She moved her eye into the column of light that was showing. She had left the door open a crack so she could still see what was going on outside and the light that came in through it stood out in stark contrast to the surrounding darkness of the closet. Troy was no where to be seen so she judged it safe to come out.

She was pleased in a way to find Sharpay unconscious. She rang for an ambulance and she stayed there until she could hear sirens. Before that happened through, Taylor started to stir, drawing Gabriella's attention away from her slumbering Mountain Lion's face. She sauntered over to stand beside the Brainiac. She channelled all the emotions she was feeling into the furnace inside of her that heated them all together until they mixed in their molten state. She was then able to craft them all into an intense hatred for the semi-conscious girl lying before her.

She egged herself on with thoughts such as _This is all her fault _and the like. That was true, however it was not reason enough for Gabriella to draw her leg back and let rip a kick with such a force that she felt the back of the girl's skull crack. That was when she heard the sirens.

She turned, not realising the full extent of her actions and not really wanting to. She hurried again to the side of her sleeping beauty.

"I'm sorry," she muttered softly in her ear. Then she leaned in to place an equally soft, sweet kiss on those perfect lips.

As soon as she did it she wished she didn't. It took all of her willpower to get her to pull away and stand.

With a heavy heart she then turned and walked away.

She daren't look back. She didn't have enough resolve to resist the temptation of her melted Ice Queen.

_Never can I have that kiss..._

**Alrighty then... another update. I think the ban has been lifted now so I can update more!!! But lags towards the end doesn't it?**

**Wow I really need to update my other stories. Ah they can wait a little while.**

**Anyway I have a question for you my readers (that makes me sound pompous doesn't it? Either that or the fact that I just used the word pompous makes me sound pompous). Yes anyways the question is:**

**_Should I have Troy arrested which could make this story longer? _**

**_Or should I not have Troy arrested and just let him be majorly pissed? _**

**Review and tell me what you think.**

**Much love peps**

**Peace out**

**T.F.L.C.O.R**

**X**


	15. The Light

**Ok for once I have nothing to say... scary. I can fill in with some random stuff...**

_**Random stuff!**_

**I usually write these while listening to music. It actually gives me some small ideas but it has also given me one big idea which has become a major plot point in the story and if anyone can guess what that plot point is then big props to them! Also if you guess right I might be tempted to reveal some spoilers for this story. Though I highly doubt any of you will guess right because I haven't given you any clues. So I should give you one. Ok so here is the clue. The song has is sung by someone in the HSM cast but is not a song from HSM. **

**Still don't think anyone will get it though.**

Sharpay opened her eyes to find herself surrounded by light. It was such a bright white light that it hurt her eyes. She closed them but still found herself surrounded by light.

_Why do eyelids have to so thin? __If this is heaven they need to turn down the lights._

The light receded and the pain from her eyes went with it. She swore she could feel her pupils widen and it was the best feeling she had ever felt in her life. Then she opened her eyes and she knew for definite she was not in heaven...

_More like hell._

She was surrounded by people wearing blue scrubs and nurses uniforms. She tried moving her neck and only felt pain in return for her effort. However she did catch a glimpse of what she thought were police officers in the corner.

She tried moving all parts of her body and found that everything worked, but she got a hell of a kick out of trying to move her shoulder. Seriously it felt like someone had sharply kicked her and it bloody hurt! The pain was even enough to elicit a groan out of the Ice Queen, something she hadn't even done when she broke her arm!

The groan evidently drew the attention of everyone in the room. She lay there, watching everyone rushing around and the lack of sound hit her like a brick wall. She lay there in confusion, shaking her head and blinking as if that would help her regain her sense of hearing.

If the silence had hit her like a brick wall then the sudden rush of sound was worse. It didn't hit her so much as crush her as if she was skiing on a dangerous snowy mountain and some bright spark decided to yodel.

The sounds of the room couldn't be described as loud by anyone else it the room, in fact this room was quite quiet compared to others, but it seemed that Sharpay's lack of consciousness had made her hyper sensitive. She heard every little thing and it was overloading her still half asleep mind.

**"STOP!!!" **she commanded. She didn't even want to say anything it just sort of slipped out. But the authority laced with anger made everyone within hearing distance of her mighty bellow do as she said. Everything froze. Apart from Sharpay.

She pushed herself into a sitting position on her bed, ignoring the agony tearing through her shoulder, and looked over to her left. There stood two nurses. One looked very nervous and jittery. Sharpay was tempted to shout "BOO!" at her just to see her run away or at the very least flinch. But she resisted. Instead she turned to the other nurse, Farah. Well that was what it said on her name tag. But Sharpay didn't care much for the name, only about the answer to the question burning her up inside.

"Where are they?"

Confusion was evident in Farah's face. "They?"

"Yes they," she nearly shouted, getting annoyed at the confused look that was still on the nurse's face. "They!"

The nurse opened her mouth to speak again but was cut of by a gruff voice coming from behind her, "I think we better take it from here."

The police officer appeared behind Farah and gently laid a hand on her shoulder, letting her know that it was ok for her to leave. She looked at the other nurse and her nervousness turned into a look of express relief. She scrambled to get out the door as if someone had just lit a fire under her butt. Sharpay couldn't help but smirk at that.

Farah however was more cautious. She took her time in going out the door, trying not to look like she wanted to stay but failing miserably. The police officer who had touched her shoulder fixed her with a hard stare and disappointment showed on her face. She moved, almost exactly like a sulky teenager, towards the door before stepping through it and closing it behind her.

Sharpay then turned her full attention towards the officers that had been standing in the corner. She regarded them both, weighing them up in her head. She disregarded the younger looking one with his cropped brown hair and five o'clock shadow. The old Sharpay would have found him rather cute but that was the old Sharpay, the Ice Queen.

_It's out with the old and in with the new _she couldn't help but think. The new Sharpay was the one who knew who her heart belonged to. The new Sharpay was the melted Ice Queen. And the ice fell away to leave behind a Mountain Lion. _Whoa Shar, at least try to stay focused here. _

He looked eager and it was obvious that he was a newbie. He was in complete contrast with his partner, the one who had touched the nurse's shoulder and told her to get out with his eyes. Those cold grey eyes. The only sign of joy or anything remotely happy on his grizzled face were the laughter lines around his eyes. He also had a five o'clock shadow but, like his hair, it was peppered with gray. He was the one Sharpay paid attention to. He was also the one who spoke first and approached her.

"'They' are here," he simply stated. Sharpay let out a breath she didn't realise she had been holding.

"However," he started.

_No not however, I hate 'however's. They are like hospitals. Nothing good can come from a 'however'._

"One of them is in a coma and the other is in the morgue."

Sharpay's mind whirled. She was overcome for a moment as the memory of what had happened in that corridor overcame her. _Wait a sec..._ _h__e only mentioned two people__. There should have been three 'other's. There was me, Taylor, Ryan and Gabriella... but no Gabriella was gone... and Ryan got stabbed... Taylor was only unconscious... Troy left..._

"R...Ry...Ryan?" she asked, almost pleading with him for the answer to be no.

"No," he said and she had never felt so happy. "According to our information it was one Taylor McKessie. She suffered severe blunt force head trauma."

Again Sharpay's mind whirled. _But she was only unconscious... and I saw Troy leave... Gabriella only punched her and that wasn't hard enough to kill her... she only broke her nose... blunt force head trauma? That meant she was hit hard in the head... Gabriella didn't __do that... she only hit her hard in the face... what happened while I was out?_

**Please review**

**T.F.L.C.O.R**

**X**


	16. Knife Dreams

**Alright so no one wants to guess what** **Ashley Tisdale song I've basically based this story on? Ok then.**

Her head was full of thoughts. But she only gave voice to one; "Blunt force head trauma?"

"Yes," the police officer said nonchalantly, it was almost as if someone had asked him if he wanted a cup of coffee.

"W...wha...what?" she questioned, deeply confused by everything. "Ho...How?"

"We don't know how," he answered. "We were hoping you would know. We need to know your account of what happened."

"Troy," she whispered under her breath, so softly that neither man heard her.

The older man looked at his younger counterpart, urging him forwards. It took a few moments for the what she guessed to be about 25 year old man to catch on. He stepped forwards so he couldn't see the other officer roll his grey eyes at him. He held in his hands an evidence bag which contained something she never wanted to see again.

The yellow neon light glinted off the silver of the blade, well the patches of silver that could be seen through the blood stains. Sharpay couldn't help but flinch as memories about that knife came back to haunt her. She closed her eyes as past feelings washed over her again.

She could feel the knife cutting her shoulder again. She felt the knife slice through her skin all over again. She felt the burning sensation of her blood reaching the air. But it wasn't like before. The burning grew instead of fading into pain. It grew and grew until it consumed her. It ran through her veins, spreading throughout her body. Her insides burned and wouldn't stop. Agony tore through her. Like before, her body was on fire. But unlike before it didn't stop. She burned and burned. Inside her raged an inferno the likes of which hell has not known.

She opened her eyes and found reality blotted out by these past memories. But they weren't memories, more like dreams or hallucinations with fragments of memory in them.

She saw a fire in front of her which started to spin around and around in a never-ending swirl. It drew her in. It curled around her like a serpent, surrounding her and welcoming her into its fiery embrace. She surrendered to it, surrendered to the heat...

Flames danced around her and she gave in and danced with them. They whirled to the left and she went right. They shrunk and she grew. Then they grew and overcame her. She became a part of them, moving with them. Everything was forgotten, blocked out, all that existed were the flames. The flames of which she was now a part... it did not occur to her that she should now be dead, burned up by the flames... but there was no pain to warn her of harm, but such thoughts did not plague her mind...

Then a figure appeared...

She didn't notice it at first; she was too caught up in the dance. The twirling and swirling and twisting and bobbing... it was all she knew... but then it was to close for her to ignore...

She looked up but could not make out the features through the haze rising from the flames...

The figure came closer and closer... the features came into focus...

She tried to draw back as she realised who it was, but the flames would not let her. She found she could not move anymore, no matter how hard she tried...

She did not recognise the figure but merely gathered who it was. You see as the figure grew nearer it was evident that the thing was not human...

It looked human enough in its outline but the feature... god the features... there was no way...

She looked into its cold blue eyes and all the electricity that was usually there was gone...

The lips were drawn up into that evil smile-snarl that had made his face so twisted before. Only now it was worse because his face was now literally twisted...

His cheeks were drawn up impossibly high, stretching his mouth until it resembled that of a clown whilst wearing their make-up...

His chin was jutting impossibly far forwards and his eyebrows were situated high on his forehead...

His nose was the only thing that stayed the same...

She desperately tried to move, to get away and run, to scream, but nothing happened. She remained rooted to the spot.

He reached out to touch her and her eyes widened in fright, the only sign that showed she was scared. She didn't know what would happen when he touched but she knew it would be bad.

His hand had undergone the same form of transformation as his face. He reached out with a twisted and knotted hand. They were the hands one would imagine belonged to an elderly witch.

The veins showed clearly through the papery transparent skin, wrapped around the raised tendons and bones...

The nails were long and broken, like they hadn't been cut for years...

Some of his fingers were even twisted around the others...

She watched those fingers approach her forearm knowing she was helpless. It was the worst feeling in the world. The seconds it took for his hand to move forward went by too fast. The trepidation she felt beset her.

Those fingers brought pain. She had no longer felt the burning that had besieged her body but when she felt those gnarled fingers touch her, the burning came back.

He took his hand away, having touched her only with that one fingertip. But it was like that touch had left a hole in her through which the flames rushed back into her body.

But still she could not move. She was forced to stare into those frozen pools of blue as she was burned alive from the inside out.

She saw no emotion, no glee, no joy, only ice. But still she did not scream. She couldn't but even inside she did not scream... she would not give him any scrap of satisfaction...

So she stared.

And he stared back.

He moved closer to her and grasped her in a bear hug. She was repulsed at first but then she understood that when he let go it would be like the touch of his fingertip, only all over. She was disgusted by this gesture but at the same time she didn't want him to let go.

But he did. She knew he would. And the pain was unbearable. It had gone beyond pain, it was something that only the dying should experience. This brought up a question in her mind. The last question before everything collapsed.

_Am I dying?_

**And that's one more chapter done. I'm going away on Sunday for about a week so this is the last you'll hear from me for a while.**

**Would do shout outs but got no time! Just one to Tristan!!! Dude you rock!!!**

**Peace out**

**X **


	17. Black, White and all the shades of Grey

**This is my first day of holiday. But I can't help but write. It's not like it's a holiday type holiday anyway, it's only to visit family.**

**I haven't seen HSM2 yet. I live in the UK so I have to wait until the 21****st**** of September. I do however ****own the soundtrack and I have watched stuff on utube. 'Gotta Go My Own Way' made me cry...**** sniffles...**

**I have seriously got addicted to using ellipses which are the three dots... I will now use them whenever I can... and it'll probably annoy the hell out of people so I will try to refrain from using them.**

**Anyway in the ****three hour ****car journey up here, I came up with a totally different direction for this story! Well not totally new but yeah a new ending. Which will be a hell of a lot better than the original!!! I can't wait to write it! **

**But I will have to because there are at least a few more chapters to go...**

Sharpay suddenly found herself pulled from the darkness by someone shaking her. She looked around wildly, only calming when she saw no trace of fire or the twisted visage of the Troy of her dream. She then found herself staring into a pair of cold grey eyes that gave away no emotion. In truth those eyes scared her more than the demon Troy she had dreamed of.

She continued staring for a second, mesmerised by the light tones of blue within the grey. Then she jolted out of her stupor, jerking her gaze from those eyes. She couldn't stand to look into them. She felt as if she continued to look into them she would lose herself completely. And that just wouldn't do.

She needed to stay here, in this place, in the here and now. She had to stay here for the people she loved. People like Ryan and Gabriella. Then she remembered Taylor and what had happened. She took a moment to mourn her back stabbing bitch of a friend. She had to know how.

"Taylor," she simply stated. "How?"

"Pardon?" the older cop said, standing up and moving away from her.

"Taylor," she said slowly. "How did she die?"

"We told you," the younger officer said, butting in. "Blunt Force Head Trama."

She thought of the good times they had shared and how they had been too brief. Yes she was angry at Taylor for what she did but she didn't deserve to die.

"That means she got hit in the head right?" Sharpay asked, wanting to know all the facts.

"Oh hell yeah. Whatever it was that hit her hit her pretty hard. By the time we got there half her brain was on the fl..." that was when the younger officer was cut off by yet another look from those grey eyes. But Sharpay had heard enough to figure it out. She wasn't as dumb as people thought.

_So whatever hit her must have cracked the skull. What would have the power to do that though? A knife couldn't do that. A drill maybe but not a knife. What the hell happened while __I__ was out! __And__where's__Gabriella_

She came out of her thoughts to find only herself and the older officer in the room. She normally would have smirked but she couldn't find it within herself to do so. All she could picture in her head was Taylor lying on the cold floor of that corridor with her brain leaking out, adding more mess to the floor. She felt a twinge of guilt as she thought about how Taylor wouldn't be dead if she hadn't started on Sharpay.

_But then again she only started o__n me because of... wait why did she start on me? O yeah it was because Chad kissed Ryan... o god it's all coming back again. _

She sat there shock still as the events of what she still assumed to be today washed over her again. With the ability of hindsight everything was so much clearer. She saw all her mistakes and all the ways to rectify them. But that was no good now.

_Replaying events in your head and changing them won't make things right. It won't bring __Taylor__ back, it won't get __Ryan__ out of his coma and it sure as hell won't tell you where __Gabriella__ is!!! __But__ it will help the police put Troy behind bars._

And without even thinking about it Sharpay Evans started to talk. Everything that was in her head she relayed through her mouth to the cop with the salt and pepper hair and grey eyes who wrote it all down on a pad of paper. He didn't miss a word. He jotted everything down and never once asked her to repeat. She would have marvelled at that but at this moment in time she had more pressing issues in her life.

As soon as she was done she got up off the bed and pressed that big red button that called for the nurses. Nurse Farah was first through the door, again trying hard not to look interested but failing miserably.

"Nurse where is my brother?" Sharpay asked curtly.

"Err..." the nurse stalled. Then Sharpay shot her a 'don't fuck with me' look. "Ok I honestly don't know."

Sharpay let out a sigh and rolled her eyes. She pushed her way past Farah and left her alone in that room with who she had affectionately dubbed ol' grey eyes. Farah tried to look him in the eye but couldn't.

"Grey eyes huh?" Farah said trying to break the uncomfortable silence that hung thick as London fog in the air around them. "That's rare. Very... intimidating."

"Yeah I get that a lot," the cop said, running a hand through his greying hair before walking out the room as well.

Sharpay practically ran down the corridor of the hospital. She hated these places. Ever since her mum had died she couldn't stand the sight of a hospital, let alone being in one.

She found the nurses station easily enough and looked around for somebody who looked like they knew what they were doing. In a hospital though everyone should look like they know what they're doing, and they all did. It was just that Sharpay had very high standards. And there wasn't one person who met those standards until a young female doctor walked past wearing glasses. With her brown hair pulled up into a bun she looked the epitome of professionalism.

"Excuse me doctor," Sharpay said walking up to the woman and lightly touching her arm to get her attention.

The woman reacted to her touch almost like she had been electrocuted. She practically leaped away from Sharpay, and all from a single touch. Sharpay allowed herself a moment of confusion before pressing on with the matter of her brother.

"Do you know where Ryan Evans is?" Sharpay asked, adding a note of urgency to her voice.

The doctor eyed her up and down as if weighing her up in her mind. Sharpay then realised that she was still in the hospital gown she had woken up in. _O very fetching... who could have known white with little black poka dots could look so good? _She thought to herself with more than a hint of sarcasm.

"Sharpay?" the doctor asked. It was the first time Sharpay had heard her talk and she was almost knocked off her feet by the voice. It truly sounded like the voice of an angel but it had a rough edge to it. She had only heard one voice that she liked more.

_Gabriella. _

_O shut up Sharpay! You don't have time to do this! You don't have the time to rate people's voices or even think about the only girl you would do anything for._

"Sharpay Evans?"

"Yes," she answered hurriedly, wanting to skip past her and concentrate on her brother. "Yes that's me. Now what about my brother?"

"Miss Evans please come with me."

"I'm not going anywhere with you unless it's to my brothers room."

"Look Sharpay," the doctor nearly shouted. Sharpay was shocked at this and it showed on her face. The voice of an angel was gone, leaving just the edge. "You need to come with me. It's important."

Sharpay had no argument for this. She kept her mouth closed and just followed the woman.

She followed her all the way back to the room she had walked out of. She begrudging walked through the door that the doctor held open for her. The room was now completely empty except for the bed. Sharpay now studied the room, giving it the attention she hadn't given it before. She took in everything, every crack in the aging walls, every peel in the blue paint, every tile on the floor. Nothing escaped her notice. Especially not the clothes that were neatly folded on the top of the side cabinet. She recognised them as the clothes she had put on this morning, only they were cleaner then. She picked them up and unfolded them. She noticed they had been cleaned but it seemed that there were something's that even Vanish Oxyaction couldn't get out. She stared at the blood stains on what should have been her perfectly white tank top. _That's__ my blood. Hmm... __Wowawewa. _Sharpay didn't know what else to think. She was standing there staring at her own blood. Blood which should have been inside her body.

"We tried to so hard to get that out," the doctor said walking over to stand beside Sharpay. "You have no idea how much we've washed that this past week."

"Week?!" Sharpay exclaimed. And her she was thinking that only a day had gone by. She really needed to get her internal clock working.

"Yes," the doctor said so casually. _How can she be so casual about it? I've been unconscious for a week! Wait that means __Ryan's__ been in a coma for a week! O god._

"Wow," Sharpay breathed.

"Yeah you gave us quite a scare on day 3."

"Day 3?"

"The third day you were unconscious. You had to have minor surgery on day 2 and on day 3 you were recovering."

"Minor surgery?"

"Your shoulder. That was a pretty deep cut. We spent an entire day cleaning it."

"Wait don't tell me, day 1 right?"

The doctor chuckled "Yeah." Then as soon as the chuckle started it was over, she was back to being serious. "You lost a lot of blood."

"... Huh." For once Sharpay was at a loss for words.

"Look you better get dressed. I need to talk to you. And it's hard to take anyone seriously when they're wearing that," she said indicating the gown.

It was Sharpay's turn to chuckle. But she didn't stop, she let herself chuckle as she pulled the curtain across and started to get changed. She still chuckled as she slid off the gown and slipped into her jeans. Then the chuckle grew into a deep laugh as Sharpay used the mirror by the bed to look at her shoulder. She saw the long scar that stretched from the top of her shoulder blade down 5 inches and all she could do was laugh. She looked at that scar and all she could think of was what had happened. And all she could do was laugh.

She laughed so hard, tears sprung from her eyes. She laughed and laughed as the tears rolled down her face. Then the laughs turned to sobs and she sank to the floor. Then she only cried. She cried for Taylor, she cried for Ryan, she cried for her love. She cried and cried until she just couldn't cry anymore. She felt like she wanted to but she just couldn't. And that feeling was worse than the feeling you get when you cry.

The curtain had long since been drawn back and the doctor was standing there, unsure of what to do. So she followed her instinct and held Sharpay. She pulled her up off the floor and let her cry on her shoulder. Sharpay responded by holding her tight, like a child holds their mother when they don't want to go. Even when the tears stopped Sharpay still held on needing to feel the touch of someone to calm her.

Then Sharpay realised who it was that she was holding and instantly let go. She muttered sorry to the woman and went to sit on the bed, sad but relieved at the same time. Crying had helped her. It had got some of the sorrow out of her system. The rest just stayed there like a body of water, moving when she moved and threatening to overflow at any minute. She slipped her now rose coloured tank top on. She looked down at it.

_It doesn't actually look that bad. The blood looks pink and in the patches it works rather well. O__h__ who am I kidding as soon as I get away from this place this thing's going in the bin._

She let out a sorrowful sigh and looked at the doctor. "What was it you wanted to talk to me about?"

"You're parents..." the doctor tried to start.

"Yeah I know. They're on holiday in the Alps or some such fancy place and can't blahblahblah..." Sharpay lied, knowing the truth but not wanting to say the truth to this stranger. Because revealing the truth would lead to revealing more about her life than she wanted to tell this doctor.

The doctor gave Sharpay a sad smile when she heard this. She didn't understand how parents could be so uncaring. Their daughter and son nearly died!!! _Well the son nearly died, the daughter scared us but we gave her s__ome more blood and she was fine._She thought that people like that didn't deserve children. Especially not when people like her existed, the people who want children but can't have them.

"But," she interrupted Sharpay who was still "Blahblahblah"-ing. "There was this one girl."

If Sharpay were a dog, her ears would have picked up. Just hearing that word girl set her imagination into overdrive. Had Gabriella come to see her? Was she ok? Did she cry over me? So many questions with no answers.

_That's because __you're__ not voicing your questions stupid.__ Ask her._

But she didn't. She sat there with a calm visage and let the doctor continue. She could just be getting her hopes up after all.

"She was just over five foot I think. With brown wavy hair and chocolate eyes."

Sharpay's heart started doing as little dance against her ribcage. "Gabriella?" she asked hope against hope that the answer was yes.

"Yes I think that's what she said her name was."

Sharpay leaped into the air and joined her heart in doing a little dance but stopped dead when she moved her shoulder and a blinding pain rushed through her body. She started seeing starts and knew she had gone too far. She fell back onto the bed, the pain dazing her senses. She shook her head to try to clear it and it surprisingly worked.

"Yeah you need to take it easy for a couple of days," the doctor stated, choosing now to start being now all professional. "You have twelve stitches in that shoulder for a reason. Now we can discharge you today but you will have to come back in a week for us to take the stitches out." she had picked up the chart from the bottom of the bed and was reading it. "We'll have to give you some pain killers and antibiotics to make sure the wound doesn't go septic but I highly doubt it will. But you still must take all the medicines we give you ok?"

Sharpay nodded excited that she should get to get out of this place so soon. "My brother, can I go see him now?"

"Yes follow me."

So Sharpay again followed her. Down the hall and two lefts, an elevator ride to the 5th floor and a right later they were standing outside a door with a small window in it. Sharpay tried to see through the little window but was blocked by the doctor. "I warn you this may be a bit distressing for you to see."

Sharpay pushed her aside and strode into the room. She should have listened to the doctor. It was distressing. There was Ryan lying peacefully as if he were sleeping, which in truth he kind of was. But he was surrounded by beeping machines with funny coloured lines being drawn on their screens. He had a tube running round hid face and into his nose which she knew was helping him breathe. Then there was another, thicker tube going down his throat. It was almost unbearable for her to see. Almost.

She forced herself to walk around to the side of his bed where she sat in the garish blue leather cushioned chair that was there. She covered Ryan's left hand with both her own, hoping it would give him some small comfort. She felt tears welling up in her eyes but she would not let them fall. Sharpay didn't like to cry. Before had just been a slip up in her character. So she kept it all inside.

The door opened behind her but Sharpay could not tear her eyes away from her twin. "Ok I got your drugs and antibiotics," a voice said behind her. She mentally matched the voice to that of the female doctor from what she thought to be a moment ago. _Yeah but your mental clock's fucked Evans. You thought only a day had passed and a whole week had gone by, _she thought to herself. She was about to start an argument with herself when the voice continued; "Also there is something else. Gabriella gave me this yesterday."

Finally Sharpay managed to move her gaze from Ryan's still form. She turned to look at the doctor but more importantly what the doctor held in her outstretched hand. She regarded the crisp white envelope, judging what its contents might be in her mind. Giving up on the guessing game she was playing in her own head she snatched the envelope from the doctor's hand. She started to tear into it like a child at Christmas opening their presents, when she saw out of the corner of her eyes the doctor, silently leaving.

"Excuse me, what's your name?" Sharpay asked.

The doctor stopped and turned to look at her. "I'm Doctor Kirby."

"Well thank you Doctor Kirby, so so much."

A small smile played on Doctor Kirby's red lips. "The pleasure was all mine."

Sharpay returned the smile and watched Doctor Kirby leave. As soon as the door was closed, Sharpay's focus returned to the envelope she had laid down on the bed next to Ryan's arm. It was open, her slightly overgrown nails had made short work of the paper, but she was unsure of whether or not she wanted to know what it contained. But she had too know, her curiosity won out.

_Curiosity killed the cat._

Ok she had had it with this little voice inside her head. She wasn't even sure if it was her voice! And it kept saying stupid cryptic things and things that made it obvious it was trying to provoke her into some kind of reaction and make her seem mad.

Wait.

Was she mad?

She heard a voice in her head... didn't that mean she was mad?

She shook all these thoughts out of her head and turned her attention solely to the envelope. She could take it no longer, she had to know...

She reached into it to find her fingers meet a wisp of paper. It had writing on but before her mind could comprehend the letters and the words they formed her face lit up. It was Gabriella's handwriting! Excited she started to read...

_Sharpay,_

_You must be awake. __G__ood__. I can't do this __Sharpay__. I can't see you like this and __I__ can't stay here. Not after everything that has happened. Know that __I__ will always love you my Mountain Lion._

_Forget me_

_Gabriella_

_X_

And with those words, so few and short, Sharpay's world came crashing down.

**So**** whatcya think? I think ****its**** bloody long myself. It would be shorter but ****I**** wrote this mainly at night yesterday and the day before that and ****I**** couldn't update so ****I**** carried on writing. ****I tried updating last night but my connection went. So I wrote the note lol.**

**Anyway ****I**** start school on Tuesday so updates might be a bit ****scarcer****. I might be able to fit one in before Tuesday ****but I dunno coz I got a few other projects that need updating and changing and starting. My mates got me writing this new story for her and it's so complicated. But if we pull it ****off it should be fan fiction gold! And if we don't pull it off it'll just fall in on itself and collapse into a pile of crud lol.**

**Peace ****out people**

**X**


	18. Gotta Go My Own Way

**Alrighty then. I just had a brain wave so I wrote it down. You don't have to count it as a chapter if you don't want to but if you seriously hate it then tell me and I will delete it. You can skip over this chapter if you want.**

Sharpay was transfixed on the letter. Her eyes washed over it again and again until it was burned into her memory, imprinted on her consciousness. She didn't know what to feel, there were so many ways she should feel but none of them seemed to fit. She should have been angry that Gabriella could just give up on her like this but she couldn't find it in herself to feel that way. She should have felt distraught but she couldn't be. She wished she could feel something, anything at all, but she couldn't. She just couldn't.

A faint song reached her ears, sung by the most angelic voice ever.

"I gotta say what's on my mind. Something about us doesn't seem right these days."

The voice was only faint. Sharpay searched the room, looking around wildly, for the source of the sound.

"Life keeps getting in the way. Whenever we try, somehow the plan is always rearranged."

Her eyes settled on the window that was on the far wall of Ryan's room. She sprinted to it and looked out of it, hope building inside her.

"It's so hard to say, but I gotta do what's best for me. You'll be ok..."

Sure enough there was Gabriella, sat on the grassy knoll next to the hospital underneath a large oak tree. She seemed to be singing to no-one in particular and Sharpay knew she was just singing what was in her heart.

"I've got to move on and be who I am. I just don't belong here I hope you understand."

Then she looked up, her coffee eyes meeting Sharpay's chocolate ones dead on. A deep need ran through Sharpay. She needed her, to see her, to touch her, to kiss her tender lips. Setting her jaw, Sharpay managed to move her feet. They carried her through the door, out the room and to the nearest stairwell.

"We might find our place in this world someday but at least for now, I gotta go my own way."

The sound of Gabriella's voice followed her where she ran. These words froze her where she stood. It had finally sunk in for Sharpay what this song meant.

"Don't wana leave it all behind, but I build my hopes up and I watch them fall every time. Another colour turns to grey, and it's just too hard to watch it all, slowly fade away."

Sharpay moved to the nearest window which was down the next flight of stairs. She looked down at Gabriella who was still sitting on the grass, staring and singing into space. Sharpay heard the sorrow in her voice and felt her heart break.

"I'm leaving today, coz I gotta do what's best for me. You'll be ok..."

She was spurred into action by these new lyrics. The pieces of her heart felt like they fell through her shoes as she realised Gabriella would be leaving, leaving her. Alone.

"I've got to move on and be who I am. I just don't belong here I hope you understand. We might find our place in this world someday but at least for now, I gotta go my own way."

The repeat of the chorus drifted up the stairwell to her ears. She raced down the stairs accidently knocking into a nurse who was trying to go up the stairs. She was walking up, Sharpay was racing down, Sharpay clipped her with her elbow, sending her into a spin in which the samples she was carrying spilled, all over her. Sharpay barely noticed, caught up in the song, and when she did notice she didn't want to know because those samples smelled really really bad.

Sharpay saw her destination in front of her, the big double fire doors. She did not slow down but carried straight on, right into those doors. There are not words to express how relieved she was that those doors where not locked. Only when she was through the doors did she stop dead. She just stood there, less than a 100 feet between her and her singing love. She was just finishing the repeat of the chorus and Sharpay couldn't keep her mouth shut.

"What about us? What about everything we've been through?"

Gabriella looked around sharply at this. She starred daggers at Sharpay.

"What about trust?"

Sharpay didn't know what Gabriella meant so she replied with the first thing that came to mind.

"You know I never wanted to hurt you."

"What about me?"

Sharpay still didn't understand what her love meant. What did she mean? Gabriella knew that she would do anything for her.

"What am I supposed to do?" she sang, asking no-one in particular.

"I gotta leave but I'll miss you."

All hope left Sharpay as soon as these words left Gabriella's mouth. She felt like someone had stuck a pin in her and, like a balloon, all the air left her. Such a backhanded blow she would not have expected from Gabriella.

"So... I've got to move on and be who I am."

Gabriella continued with her singing and Sharpay gathered every scrap of anything even barely resembling confidence inside herself. It might be hopeless but she still had to try. Gabriella started to walk away but Sharpay moved to block her way. She stood in front of her and sang:

"Why'd you have to go?"

"I just don't belong here, I hope you understand," Gabriella responded, not really answering the question.

"I'm trying to understand."

Sharpay tried to look into Gabriella's eyes but the person who had once loved her more than anything would not look anywhere near her.

"We might find our place in this world someday, but at least for now..."

This was it for Sharpay; she could feel the song drawing to a climax. This could be her last chance. So she opened her mouth and sang with all her heart:

"I want you to stay."

She stepped closer to Gabriella and inside she rejoiced. The scent of roses filled her nostrils and she felt safe.

"I wana go my own way," Gabriella retorted, shooting Sharpay down in flames. "I've got to move on and be who I am."

She finally looked up and Sharpay stared into those red puffy eyes that less than a minute ago had been normal. She moved around Sharpay and walked away from her.

"What about us?" was Sharpay's feeble response. She knew it was hopeless but she was a fighter, she had to fight for what she believed in. And she believed in nothing more than she believed in Gabriella. So she ran after her and walked alongside her, almost like a pleading dog begging for a treat.

"I just don't belong here, I hope you understand."

"I'm trying to understand."

She had no hope, she had no confidence, she had nothing. She had nothing more to give Gabriella.

"We might find our place in this world someday but at least for now, I gotta go my own way."

Sharpay stood there and watched her go. Gabriella turned back one last time and Sharpay couldn't stop the surge of hope that well... surged... within her.

"I gotta go... my own way."

Gabriella walked up to her and whispered softly in her ear. "Forget me. Unlove me."

And again Sharpay's world came tumbling down around her. It killed her that all she could do was watch Gabriella go. She felt... nothing. A strange kind of sereneness washed over her. It was like she was numb yet she felt fine.

Sharpay stood there for another hour. Gabriella was long gone and she wasn't coming back. She had to talk to the one person who would understand. She let her feet carry her back up the stairs and back into the room with her 'sleeping' brother.


	19. The Ice Queen Is Back! For A Bit Anyway

**Sorry ka2or but ****Gabriella**** is the only girl for ****Sharpay****, well in this story anyway.**

**Farah, ****I**** get that you love HSM2 now please shut up about it! You're just rubbing it in now.**

**And Cas, no no-one ****else did try to guess the song, though ****I**** kind of gave it away really.**

**But hey Sharpay's been hogging the spotlight too long. What do you say to the return of our favourite Jock?**

**And I'm sorry for the short paragraphs. They seem bigger when i write it in Word.**

So Sharpay walked. She went to walk back up the stairs but was blocked by a burly looking male nurse/attendant type person. He talked to her but she didn't hear him. She stared at his moving lips but her brain just didn't comprehend the words coming from it. A smell wafted down to her nostrils, replacing the lingering odour of rose petals which she tried to cling on to for so long she was sure she was now only imaging it.

That smell brought back the memory of her running down the stairs. She remembered clipping that nurse with her elbow and making her spill the samples down herself. The samples that were the cause of the smell she now smelt. That smell was what it took for her to react to the outside world.

She wrinkled her nose and eyes in disgust. She looked up again at the muscular Hispanic man stood in front of her. She now heard what he said, she just didn't care. She thought what Gabriella had done had had no effect on her, but it had.

She had refrozen herself. Her shields were back up to full and were intact.

The Ice Queen was back.

And she wasn't going to let this one get away.

She turned on a dime and stormed off to talk to her brother. Sure he was in a coma but she wasn't going to let a little minor detail like that get in her way...

As she walked through the front doors she saw a hairdo that she knew all too well. She walked up behind it and patted it playfully.

Chad turned around to see Sharpay and his trademark toothy grin spread across his face. It was in stark contrast with his red puffy eyes that when she looked into them reminded her so much of Gabriella's. She couldn't help but feel a twinge of sadness as she thought of what she had lost only an hour before.

She shook her head to rid herself of that feeling. She was the Ice Queen again. The Ice Queen didn't feel such things as loss or sadness.

She hugged Chad and started to walk away, fully expecting him to follow. She was half way down the corridor when she noticed he wasn't. She sighed and called over her shoulder, "Have you seen him yet?"

They both knew who she meant when she said him. This had him scrambling to catch up with her. "Yeah, I was in the ambulance with him."

Even though Sharpay wasn't looking at him, she could tell he was tearing up. She chose to ignore that fact and walked on. Then she remembered that she had never once seen Chad cry and so decided that showing some emotion wouldn't kill her.

She let out a sigh as she reached behind her to grasp Chad's hand in her own. She gave it a little reassuring squeeze as she thought to herself _I've__ been out__ of the Ice Queen game too long, the Ice Queen that was Sharpay Evans wouldn't have been caught dead holding Chad Danforth the Jock's hand!_

She stopped dead, making Chad walk into her. She spun on her heel and fixed him with an icy glare. _Then again... maybe this Ice Queen is back!!! _She thought as Chad visually wilted under her glare.

Her eyes softened as she remembered why she had stopped. Chad was in for one of the worst moments of his life and here she was making him wilt. A wave of guilt crashed over her, washing away the reforming ice. _Damn __Sharpay__! You keep nearly getting it back only for it to slip away from you again! __Garr__ at yourself!_

"This will be hard to see Chad," she warned, like Doctor Kirby had done with her. "Seriously it's not nice."

"Yeah well it wasn't nice seeing him in the ambulance either," he replied rather coldly. She smiled a soft smile, tinged with disappointment. She could tell Chad didn't take her warning seriously, she could see it in his eyes. But still she let him go.

He couldn't move past her fast enough. He barrelled through the door like Sharpay had done with the fire doors earlier.

Still Sharpay stood there, still in the same pose. The disappointed smile she wore turned into a despairing one, an expression that spread to the rest of face when she heard the cry that came from within the room. She sighed and turned to follow the footsteps Chad had walked a few moments ago.

The sight her eyes saw moved her. Tears sprung to her eyes but she sucked it up and didn't let them fall. All she could do was watch. Watch Chad sob over the prone form of her brother.

All Chad could do was cry, cry over the guy he loved. He remembered back to the ambulance and that only brought forth more tears. They would not stop, no matter how much he wanted them to. So he abandoned himself to his sobs.

He felt someone squeeze his shoulder and turned around to look up into the eyes of the last person he would have expected to reassure him. He couldn't help himself, he needed to feel someone's touch. So he wrapped himself up in her.

Sharpay looked down at the jock she was now wearing. All she had done was squeeze his shoulder. That surely wasn't cause for him to turn around and hug her... plus this was doing nothing to help her reform the ice.

_Aww screw it _she thought as she gave up trying to be something she wasn't anymore. She wove her arms around Chad, holding him and gently rocking him like one would a distressed baby.

Chad was lost in his sorrow when one thought rose into his consciousness. One name was all it took to stop the tears. He stopped his crying, not even bothering to wipe the remaining tears from his eyes.

He raised his head until it was level with Sharpay's. Her stared into her eyes and saw the sorrow he felt mirrored there as well as the rage. The fire of rage burned within them both. But he could tell that she had it under some kind of control. But through their eye contact passed that one thought, one name.

They both whispered it at the same time, in very different ways. The murderous fury was evident in Chad's voice while Sharpay's voice was softer and calm, almost casual. It was like Sharpay was ying and Chad was yang.

"Troy."

**So what you think? I can't help but be disheartened at the number of reviews ****I'm**** getting. But ****I'm**** not guna be one of those sad acts who says "I want 50 reviews before ****I**** update!!!" because that makes me not want to review. And yeah i know its in short paragraphs but it always seems bigger in the word document. Sorry.**

**But anyway yeah more reviews would be nice :-) **

**Now ****I**** bid you goodbye because ****I**** only have half an hour left on the computer and ****I**** wana start work on this ****one-shot**** songfic ****I**** have in mind. It will be a Troyella (I know! me writing a troyella? I never thought it would happen either!!!) ****But**** there will be a twist.**** Troy and Gabriella will be getting married and someone just has to object lol. But who will it be??? Well drop me a review and tell me who you think it should be or PM me...**

**Bye-bye**

**X**


	20. Black and White: The Absolutes

"No Chad," she said sternly. You see while he looked into her eyes she was looking back into his and she could read them like a book. She saw the fire in them and knew it was mirrored in her own. Only difference was she controlled the flames. Sure going round to see Troy and smacking the hell out of him would be fun, but she had other more important matters to attend to. She needed to talk to Ryan. And she no idea how she was going to achieve that...

When she did have a glimmer of an idea but she had no idea how she was going to turn that glimmer into something more. Now she thought about it, even that glimmer wouldn't work. God how could she be so stupid!!! The one person she needed to talk to was in a coma! And it was all her fault.

_It was all my fault..._

She moved her shoulder, knowing that it would hurt, but welcoming the pain as she welcomed the memory of Troy's revelation.

_"This is all your fault."_

And he was right.

It's ok that she got hurt, she deserved it, but because of her her twin had been stabbed and was now in a coma. She couldn't have hated herself more than she did right then.

She closed her eyes in an attempt to keep the encroaching tears at bay. Another song reached her ears, sung softly by a voice she would not have expected to hear. "She wants fabulous that is her simple request. All things fabulous, bigger and better and best."

Still with her eyes closed she shook her head to clear it, thinking herself crazy.

"Sharpay?"

Hearing the voice of her twin again shocked her into opening her eyes. All she saw was white. There were no identifiable walls or ceiling or probably floor. She would look but her eyes were preoccupied drinking in the most welcome sight she could ever see. There was her twin. Her twin who was meant to be in a coma lying on a bed surrounded by beeping machines. Which brought her train of thought to the fact that she was just sat in a room with Chad.

"Chad?"

"No, I'm Ryan silly," he said in his wonderfully calming way.

Sharpay found she could say nothing, her mouth moved but her tongue would not from the words.

"Shhh my lil Sharpie," he said, moving forward to smooth her hair with his left hand. "They told me not to say anything to you." He slid his hand down from her hair to cup her cheek. Sharpay lent into his touch, relishing the feeling. "They're telling me I have to go now sis."

This caught her attention. As much as it pained her she managed to tear her face away from his hand. "They?" she asked looking up at him, noticing how he stood in stark contrast with his background. The solid black of his suit, the velvety black of his dress shirt and the light black of his hat definitely made him stand out against the white surrounding him. It also made his face paler, giving him a sunken sullen look that was so different to what she usually expected to see when she looked at him. She didn't like it. She didn't like it one bit.

"Yeah 'they'," he replied, pointing above his head. Then a look of confusion crossed his face that would have looked adorable before but now only distorted his thinner face and he pointed behind him. Then to the left of him before he gave up and just muttered, "Actually I don't know where 'they' are, 'they' could be anywhere." He sighed and turned his back to her.

"Wait!" Sharpay cried out in desperation. "Don't leave me Ryan!"

He turned back to look into her eyes. She saw the unshed tears there and recognised it instantly. It was the same look that Gabriella had had in her eyes when she had left. It was too much for Sharpay; something cracked inside her and through the crack came water. Salty tears poured down her face and her body shook she sobbed so hard. She watched through blurred vision as Ryan rushed over to her until he got so close to her that black was all she saw. Then she felt his strong arms wrap around her and she lost herself in his embrace. Never had she felt so comforted and safe. He again smoothed her hair with his hand and whispered soothing words into her ear. Then he rocked her like a baby briefly before firmly gripping her face with both his hands and forcing her to look into his blue eyes. He smiled at her softly and it was like he had read her mind. She knew from that devilish smile he knew what was the matter with her. They could always read each other like a book. But did he really know what ailed her? She had to know.

"Gab..." she tried to start before Ryan silenced her with his finger.

He leant forwards and whispered in her ear, "Twelfth Night." then he got up turned away for her.

In complete fear born out of losing her twin she reached out to grasp his hand firmly. He had no choice but to turn back to her. He did however choose to stare into her eyes. Again she saw unshed tears there and again she knew she was fighting a lost cause. "Sis," he said in an unusually stern tone. "I really do have to go. I'm not even meant to be talking to you." Still she clung to him. She had lost Gabriella, she was not ready to lose him too. "Sharpay," he said softly. "You need to let me go. You'll see me someday I promise. I don't know when but I hope it's soon..."

He twisted his arm free from her grip and brought his face close to hers. "Don't leave me," he whispered softly. "I've never existed in a world where I don't have a twin." With that he rose to his feet and turned away from her quicker than he had before. And then he walked away into the white.

Sharpay closed her eyes, not wishing to see him go and be swallowed up by the absoluteness of the white surrounding them both. A steady beeping reached her ears and she opened her eyes to find herself again staring into a pair of hazel eyes. She looked around n shock at the change of her surroundings. She felt her eyes and found them dry, no tears. Then the steady beeping turned to a low continuous beep as she turned to see all the machines flat line. Next thing she knew nurses and doctors were pushing past her left and right. She tried to tell them not to bother, not to waste their medicines, but her cries fell on deaf ears. So she gave up on them.

_Let them waste their time and energy if that's what they want to do._

She turned and walked calmly out into the white corridor of the hospital.

_So much white. Why is everything white? _She calmly observed in her head to herself.

_Twelfth Night? Shakespeare play. She's the Man was based on it. Wait what was that quote from it? "If music be the food of love play on"? Why would Ryan want me to remember that? Music... love... play... O my twin's good._

She knew what she had to do, she knew how to do it, but most importantly, she knew she was going to get her Rose back.

**Balahbingbalahboom**

**Another**** chapter done and all done today. I woke up this morning and just had this ****burst**** of inspiration. However ****I**** had to go out so ****I**** couldn't start writing until about 3 hours ago. O yeah and ****I**** did this instead of doing my English homework so be appreciative. Show appreciation via reviews lol.**

**Yeah well review if you wana, if you don't then ok at least you've read it and that means the world to me so thank you to everyone whose read this story so far and kept with it.**

**R.F.L.C**

**X**


	21. Past, Present and Future

_If music be the food of love, play on... (Shakespeare, __Twelfth__ Night)_

Sharpay wandered down the hall, walking away from her brother's room, walking away from all the pain and Chad's cries of anguish. She paid no attention to any of that. She had walked into her brother's room to find answers and she now had them and had formulated them into a plan... but it was guna take quite a bit of work to pull it off. As she walked down the hall, she ran over the plan again and again over in her head, refining every detail until only the bare essentials remained. She only had a limited time to make this work and had to get to it fast. So that's what she did. She moved fast, even ignoring the voice that came from a mouth she knew was attached to an afro that sounded behind her.

"Sharpay!"

She hurried outside, running through the atrium of the hospital to burst out of the revolving doors. She surprised herself by not getting a limb cut off or at the very least losing an ear. She moved to get to her car but was surprised to find an ambulance there instead. Then she remembered where she was and let out a low sigh. She was about to turn around when she again heard the voice of the Afro. Then a genius idea hit her full in the face.

"Sharpay!"

She spun on her heel. "Chad," she called, as if noticing him for the first time.

"Sharpay what are you doing?" Chad said, gasping for breath, Sharpay had been walking pretty darn fast. "Your brother just died! The man we both love has just gone! Before we even got a chance to say goodbye!" Sharpay saw the tears glinting in Chad's eyes as he finished his rant. She bit her lip, torn between what she knew she had to do and what she wanted to do which was comfort Chad.

_No girl suck it up! You can deal with __Chad__ later! First you need to do what you want to do, what your brother wanted you to do!__ Ok well maybe he didn't want you to do this exact thing but he did give you the idea..._

She did nothing but let out a heartfelt sigh. This earned her the strangest look from Chad and she suddenly felt compelled to explain. "Ok look I saw Ryan before he died," when Chad's face lit up she explained further. "I don't know how and I don't know why but there was something he wanted me to do," she said. "And he told me to tell you goodbye." She allowed Chad to bask in that information for a second before she continued. "He said he loves you." Sharpay hated to do this to her friend but there was no other way. When she was the Ice Queen she would have had no problem in lying through her teeth to people but she was no longer that person. Like it was said before, the ice had melted away to leave behind a mountain lion. A mountain lion who didn't like lying.

But her lies had put Chad in a blissful state which is exactly what she wanted. She knew it was the only way short of hurting Chad that she could get him to part with his precious car keys. She thought the best way would be to pull Chad into another hug so she did. Self-loathing flowed over and around her body. She was disgusted with herself for doing this. She grimaced as she reached into Chad's pocket to find... nothing there. She mentally cursed herself as she reached her other hand into Chad's other pocket to finally grasp the keys. She was surprised that Chad didn't notice what she was up to and was even more surprised when she pulled away from Chad to find a huge grin on his face. Not his usual goofy, toothy grin but a sly, knowing grin.

"You know you only had to ask," he said simply and Sharpay couldn't help but smile. "It's parked in bay L, space 7."

Sharpay turned to walk away when Chad yelled after her. "O and hey Sharpay," Sharpay only turned her head back to look at the goofy Jock with the Afro. "Go get'em tiger."

Chad winked at her and Sharpay failed to suppress a laugh. She turned her body to face Chad, "Don't you mean Lion?" she asked making a claw out of her left hand.

"Yeah but go get'em lion doesn't have the same ring to it does it?"

"No I guess not," Sharpay giggled.

With that Chad did a little 270 degree spin before walking away from Sharpay. She stood and watched him go. She seemed to be doing that a lot lately, watching people walk away.

_Yet it never gets any easier _she thought bitterly before she herself turned to walk to Chad's big ass SUV. She unlocked the door and opened it, pausing a minute to check her reflection in the black gloss paint of the car. She then got in and marvelled at the beige leather interior before starting up the engine and listening to it purr. She revved the engine and felt a rush of excitement thrill her.

_If __Ryan__ were here he would say what a man __I__ was..._

The thought of her brother was enough to cause tears to spring to her eyes. She drew in a deep breath which helped her to steel herself and to push the thought of her brother out of her mind. She couldn't lose it and cry, not now. She had to keep it all together. For her and Gabriella's sake.

Sharpay pressed on the pedal and pulled the car out of the hospital parking lot and drove towards her first destination.

* * *

It was now dark outside the windows of the car. Sharpay had had no sense of time since waking up and didn't wish to. It was dark and that was what she needed. She knew that Gabriella's mum often went to work late at night and now it was just a waiting game. So that was what Sharpay did, she waited. She watched and listened and checked, double checked and triple checked her plan. She roughly knew what was going to happen but when a plan involved another person it was often hard to predict how things would exactly pan out. Even if that person was someone you loved more than anything, if that person was someone who you should know. But that was what Sharpay loved about Gabriella, she was unpredictable at best. Even after all they had been through together in the past year or so Gabriella always had the power to surprise her. Sharpay supposed that was why she loved her so much. Surprise adds fun to any relationship. And without fun there is no relationship.

Finally, Gabriella's mum stepped out the door, shouting something up the stairs which Sharpay couldn't hear through the car. She watched as Gabriella's mum climbed into her car and pulled away from the house. To Sharpay it seemed to take an age for the woman to move but in reality it was only about a minute.

As soon as the silver sedan was out of sight, Sharpay sprung into action. She wasted no time, getting out of the car as fast as she could go but without slamming the door and making too much noise. She walked around the side of the house to get to the back garden from where she could get to Gabriella's window. She couldn't help but think back to that day about a year ago where she had found Gabriella and all those pills. She took a moment to think back on it all. The fear she had felt, the anxiety, the breathlessness from all the running. Then finally the pure elation she had felt later when she and Gabriella were alone in the hospital room, silent as mice with only their hands touching.

She shook her head to clear the haze of memory from her vision, though she wished she could hold onto that feeling of elation a little longer. But she couldn't. That was the past, this is her present and she needed to move on too her future.

She sighed in relief when she looked up to see Gabriella's bedroom light on. She than lowered her gaze to the ground, searching for something she could use to get attention. She would have used her phone but she had no idea where it was. She imagined it to be still at the hospital but she really honestly didn't care.

Her gaze swept over the dirt beneath her feet, seeking out something, anything she could use. She found it, eventually, after at least a minute of looking. By the bottom of the tree trunk was a little group of four stones, all covered in mud. They were just the right size as well, not large or small enough to break anything. Without a hint of hesitation, Sharpay scooped them up and flung two of them at the glass doors of the balcony. She waited a couple of seconds and when nothing happened she threw the other two at the same time at the same target. Again she waited a couple of seconds which seemed longer and she was just about to turn impatient when she heard one of the doors click open. She looked up through the darkness of the night to see her Rose outlined in light. She let a smile pull at her lips and saw a look of confusion cross Gabriella's face.

Before Gabriella had a chance to even open her mouth, Sharpay sucked in a long, deep breath to prepare herself for what she knew she had to do.

_Go on Sharpay,__ do the only thing you know how. _

**Hmmm I don't know what to think about this chapter. I think I'm leaning more towards me not liking it. O and if things don't make sense atm just stick with this story... all will be explained in the end.**

**Please review**

**R.F.L.C**

**X**


	22. Unlove You

**Yeah she is gunna sing lol. Anyway I don't think this is as good as my 'Gotta Go My Own Way' chapter. But still it was fun to write. Hope its fun to read.**

"I fell in a perfect way," she started to sing. "Never had a choice to make. Crashed into your tidal wave, I didn't even struggle."

Sharpay had no idea what she was singing; she was making it up as she went along. But she meant every word of it.

"Sailed right through your atmosphere, closed my eyes and landed here. Didn't see the trouble, and I didn't care."

It was obvious she meant Troy when she sang about trouble. She looked up at Gabriella and she couldn't read her expression. Sharpay took a step forward, still looking up at her love, trying to convey through her eyes how much she meant these words.

"I can't unlove you, can't do that. No matter how I try, I'll never turn my back on, someone who loved me too."

Sharpay let her eyes flicker to the ground beneath her feet, away from her Rose for just a second. But a second was all it took.

"I can do most anything I have to..."

She looked back up to find only light where Gabriella had stood only a second before. She saw that the door had not been closed. A fact that she couldn't help but draw a sliver of hope from.

"But this one thing I cannot change. I almost kind of liked the pain."

This was true in its own weird twisted way. Gabriella hadn't caused her the pain she seemed to constantly suffer, but being with her had. Being with her but only in secret had seemingly killed her everyday. She had longed to tell the world about her love, thinking it would cause the 'pain' to stop. But as is the way of the world, the world knowing about her and Gabriella hadn't taken the 'pain' away. It had only made it more real. But it was all worth it in Sharpay's eyes. All the pain, physical or not, was well worth the reward that was being with the person she cared for most in the world.

An idea fluttered into Sharpay's head, a lyric that would most definitely get the attention of her Rose.

"Wear your tattoo like a stain. And it will take forever, to fade away."

She heard footsteps on the wooden decking of the balcony. She smirked, knowing that that particular lyric had had its intended effect. Sharpay didn't want to see Gabriella though, thinking it would put her off or even that she might now be mad at her for the lyric. So, not missing a beat, Sharpay turned to the tree behind her, eying up the trunk and its branches. This didn't mean she stopped singing though.

"I can't unlove you, can't do that. No matter how I try, I'll never turn my back on, someone who loved me too."

The repeat of the part of the song that Sharpay had decided to make the chorus sounded a little more strained. This was probably because Sharpay was a little preoccupied with not falling out of the tree onto the very firm ground beneath her. When she was younger climbing trees had been a piece of cake. No-one would have expected that the person who grew up to be East High's resident Drama Queen was a tree climbing champion. _Well that was what having a twin brother did to you._

Sharpay pushed the thought of her brother out of her head; she couldn't afford to lose her focus now. And bursting into tears would most definitely count as losing her focus. But the thought of Ryan almost put her off enough to make her miss her next line... Almost.

"I can do most anything I have to..."

Sharpay leaped from where she stood amongst the braches. Somehow she managed to cover the distance between the tree and the balcony but she didn't come out of it unscathed. When it came to landing Sharpay didn't bring her feet beneath her in time, making her land sprawled on the wood. She took a millisecond to praise herself for having the sense to kick of her heels before she attempted to climb the tree. Then she opened her eyes to see a pair of feet directly in front of her face.

In a split second Sharpay was back up on her feet, moving so fast it was a case of blink and you'll miss it. Which is why there was a very confused squirrel in the tree Sharpay had just jumped out of. You see the squirrel had chosen to blink at the wrong moment.

"But I can't unlove you, no... Why would I want to...?"

Sharpay sung straight to Gabriella's face, knowing she had her full attention. Her passion flowed through her and out of her through her mouth in the words of the song.

"I can't unlove you, can't do that. I'll never get through that... Why would I want to?"

Sharpay knew she had started to lose the other girl's attention. So she slowed the song down a bit, her voice not losing any of the passion it had sung with before.

"There's always time for other dreams..."

Both girls were oblivious to the squirrel, they were only aware of each other. Sharpay was no on her feet and used her height advantage to her, well... advantage. She stepped closer to Gabriella, staring directly into her coffee brown eyes. The smell of roses again filled her nostrils, making her heart dance and her nerves jangle. She couldn't help but lift her hands to hold her loves arms, trying to make sure she had Gabriella's attention.

"Why must we erase these things?"

Sharpay looked deep into Gabriella's eyes, searching for her answer. But before she could find it, Gabriella shrugged off Sharpay's hands and turned away from her.

_Oh no, not this time. _

Sharpay was through with watching the people she loved walk away. She reached out and grasped Gabriella's hand in a vice like grip.

"I can't unlove you, can't do that. No matter how I try, I'll never turn my back on, someone who loved me too..."

Sharpay felt Gabriella's arm relax in her grip. She met her coffee brown eyes with her own chocolate brown ones when Gabriella turned around to face her. Knowing she had the full attention of her Rose spurred her on and fanned the flames of passion inside her.

"But I can't unlove you. Can't do that. No matter how I try, I'll never turn my back on, someone who loved me too."

Sharpay stepped closer to Gabriella and swept her up in her arms. Still holding onto Gabriella she took a step back across the threshold of Gabriella's room. Her skin welcomed the warmth both Gabriella and her room presented gratefully. She looked down at Gabriella's face to find a huge grin plastered on her face. She felt a smile pull at her own lips.

"I can do most anything I have too..."

Sharpay closed the distance between their smiles, before finally finishing the song she had sung from her heart with such passion:

"But I can't unlove you."

Gabriella closed the rest of the distance, taking her lips forward to meet Sharpay's in a tender kiss. A tender kiss that made the rest of the world melt away and rid Sharpay's mind of all her worries. Everything was forgotten as the two girls lost themselves in each other.

This included the squirrel who was still sat outside, deeply perplexed by the sight before his two squirrely eyes. He tried to understand why the two humans in front of him would be trying to bite each other yet smile about it. Puzzled beyond belief the squirrel gave up trying to make his little squirrel brain understand what he saw, instead using to attend to more squirrel like matters. And with a flick of his tail he turned to try to find his nuts that he had hidden for the winter somewhere around here...

**Yeah ****I**** know the squirrel is random but hey ****I'm**** in a random mood. Anyway ****I**** don't know what the next chapter will be. Should it be a sex scene or should we just jump to the next day? What would you guys prefer?**

**Well leave me a review saying what you think and what you think the next chapter should be.**** Sex scene or the next morning? Or maybe it should be about the squirrel. Maybe I should do a spin off... High School Musical: The Squirrel Version!**

**It would be High School Musical! But through the eyes of a squirrel! Wow!**

**Peace out my Jelly Beans**

**R.F.L.C**

**X**


	23. Roses

**I am pleased to inform you that due to the ****response**** to the squirrel ****I**** have started High School Musical: The Squirrel Version! ****It's**** High School Musical! But through the eyes of a squirrel!!! Heehee! Check it out. ****Only****an**** extended summary type thing atm though...**

**Anyway on with the story. ****I**** have decided that ****I**** will bite the ****bullet**** and have them have sex... ****I**** have written over 20 chapters of this thing and there's no really femslash action really. But that is about to change! When ****I**** finish this author's note...**

**Ah ****I**** can't be bothered to be annoying and to continue talking...**

**Actually ****I**** can't be bothered to write this right now so I'm guna go on ****YouTube**** for a bit. As a side question, why is there no Gabpay or Londie vids on ****YouTube****? There are a few L****iley's which are actually quite good...**

The squirrel (whose name is Bob in case you were wondering) scurried away in search of his nuts, he knocked a branch on his way past and making it shake. This shake made the apple attached to it come lose. After a moment it finally succumbed to the pull of gravity and fell to the ground.

The noise of the impact carried to Sharpay's ears. "Did you hear that?" she said, pulling away prematurely.

"Hear what?" Gabriella said, not really caring and only wanting to feel Sharpay's lips on hers once more.

"That ... noise," Sharpay continued through the light kisses her Rose gave her. "Sounded like ... something fell."

"It was probably ... a squirrel ... or something," Gabriella said for the sake of it, desperately wanting to deepen the kisses she was giving her Mountain Lion.

How could Sharpay respond to that reasoning? Very easily actually but she opted to say nothing, drunk as she was on Gabriella. She found the raven haired beauty intoxicating; the way she smelled, the way her hair tickled her face when she kissed her neck, the feel of her lips crashing onto hers. Sharpay drank it all in and let it flow with her blood round her body until Gabriella was in every sing fibre of her body.

Letting Gabriella deepen the kiss, Sharpay suddenly decided to take charge. She ran her fingers through Gabriella's dark tresses before clenching her fist, holding onto as much of her loves hair as she could. Without being as rough as to cause her Rose harm, she pulled until their lips parted. Without giving Gabriella a chance to complain, Sharpay attacked her neck with her lips. Gabriella let out a gasp as Sharpay immediately latched onto her pulse point.

Sharpay smirked as she continued sucking on her loves neck. She knew fully well what she was doing and what effect it was having on her Rose. Sharpay estimated that in about 10 seconds it would all get too much for Gabriella and she would have to stop. That didn't mean Sharpay wasn't going to milk each second for all it was worth.

_1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10_

On the magic number of 10 Sharpay felt her head being pushed away from Gabriella's neck. She didn't try to resist as her lips were guided back up to Gabriella's lips. She looked deep into those coffee brown eyes and saw them glitter in the light of the bedside lamp. Concern etched itself on Sharpay's face just a second before the tears started to fall. Sharpay raised her hands to wipe away the tears so that Gabriella's mascara wouldn't run too much. She couldn't stand to see her loves face streaked like a miners back in the shower, with Max Factor tinted rivulets dripping off her chin.

She pulled her close and held her close, trying to sooth her. Gabriella just cried into Sharpay's chest. Sharpay could feel her loves tears fall onto her collarbone. She looked down and nuzzled her face into the dark locks that had tickled her face not a minute before. She let the smell of Gabriella's shampoo fill her nostrils. It smelled of roses, like her neck had done.

She could vaguely hear Gabriella saying something that was muffled by her chest. Wanting to hear what was being said, presumably to her, Sharpay pulled her head somewhat reluctantly out of where it was nestled. When she found she still couldn't make out what was being said, she nuzzled back into her hair and whispered in her ear, "You know I can't hear you right?"

At that Gabriella moved her head away from Sharpay's chest, she accidently head butted the blonde beauty. Sharpay managed to stop her head from reeling backwards with the blow, not wanting to distress Gabriella further.

"I'm so sorry," Gabriella sobbed. "I'm so, so sorry I gave up on you. Sharpay, I can't imagine my life without you in it. I love you so much; I promise I'll never leave you..." Beyond that Sharpay didn't understand a word that came from the cute red lips. She let Gabriella carry on babbling for a moment longer before seizing both of Gabriella's cheeks in her hands.

"It's ok baby," Sharpay cooed, trying to sooth her love again. "I love you too. I promise I'll never leave you either."

With that Gabriella stopped sobbing and locked eyes with her Mountain Lion. "Promise?" she said through one last pathetic sniffle.

"Promise," Sharpay reassured her, letting a smile spread across her face. "I'll spend the rest of my life by your side if that's what you want."

Gabriella smiled back and continued to stare into those chocolate brown eyes that she loved so much before lowering them to look at that glossy smile. She slowly lent forwards to capture that smile in a tender kiss. She let her hands roam over Sharpay's body until one of them was in her soft blonde hair and the other rested quite comfortable on her lower back. Sharpay however, was more direct. Not wanting to waste this moment, she slowly turned the kiss more passionate, her tongue begging entrance into Gabriella's mouth. When that entrance was granted, Sharpay skilfully and stealthily slid her hands down to rest on Gabriella's hips.

Gabriella pulled away from Sharpay's lips. As soon as their lips parted, Sharpay already begun to mutter apologises, "I'm sorry, I don't want to force you..."

Gabriella silenced her with a finger. She then grabbed Sharpay's hand and led her towards the bed. She motioned for Sharpay to sit while she stayed standing. As soon as Sharpay's ass hit the mattress, Gabriella began.

She slowly and sexily pulled her jumper over her head and then undid her jeans. She let them fall to the floor before she stepped out of them and towards Sharpay whose jaw had hit the floor when Gabriella pulled her jumper off. Gabriella chuckled at her expression and lent forward to close Sharpay's mouth with her left hand. She then let the chuckle turn into a smirk as she saw where Sharpay was staring. As she was bent over and only wearing her underwear, Sharpay had the best view of her cleavage anyone had had in a long time. Troy had never much cared for this sort of thing. To him it was all wham, bam, thank you ma'am.

Sharpay was transfixed. She had never seen Gabriella like this. Never had she done anything like this with Gabriella. In the time they had been together, nothing had happened beyond heavy petting and make out sessions in various private or even semi-private locations. Gabriella didn't want anything to go further because of her experiences with Troy. Because of Troy she saw sex as unromantic, like people were merely going through the motions. She had never done it out of love and had nothing done to her out of love. Troy only did that stuff because it was expected of him.

But Gabriella looked into Sharpay's eyes and Sharpay into hers, and Gabriella saw only love. It shone out from the depths of her eyes, filling Sharpay's entire face with radiance. Gabriella felt her heart flutter against her ribs as she realised what that look meant. Sharpay wasn't just going though the motions, Sharpay didn't want sex, Sharpay wanted to make love to her.

An intention that Sharpay made perfectly clear when she stood up and shed her clothes until she too stood there in her underwear. Gabriella looked her Mountain Lion's body up and down, taking in every little detail; every beauty spot, every freckle, every tattoo...

Sharpay smiled. She knew where Gabriella was looking so intently with an astonished expression on her face. On her hip, almost exactly where Gabriella's mountain lion sat on her hip, was Sharpay's new tattoo. It was still a little sore because Sharpay being Sharpay, she had to take the bandage off about three hours before she was supposed to.

"Oh my god," Gabriella gasped. "Sharpay, you didn't."

Only the very top of the tattoo was visible with the rest being hidden beneath the waistband of the boy shorts Sharpay was wearing.

Sharpay smirked deviously as she sauntered up to Gabriella and whispered in her ear, "I did. You wana see?"

Without waiting for a reply, Sharpay grasped Gabriella's hands in her own and used them to pull down her shorts.

Suddenly worried that she was being too forward, Sharpay was overcome with a feeling of self-consciousness. She let go of one of Gabriella's hands to use her own hand to cover herself but Gabriella pulled her hand back. the dark haired goddess lent forward to give Sharpay a peck on the cheek before stepping back, still holding her Mountain Lions hands, and looked her over once again.

"Oh so your not a natural blonde then," Gabriella teased poking out her tongue slightly.

Sharpay blushed a deep maroon, "Shut up you."

Gabriella couldn't help but chuckle until she again saw the tattoo that she had momentarily forgotten about. It was a beautifully done rose that wouldn't have looked out of place in an art show on some canvas that was being sold for many millions of dollars. The darkness of the red and the use of shadow and light. Then there was the G in the middle. It looked like a root twisted into a G but it must have been a branch or stem because it had thorns on it.

Gabriella's mouth was agape. Her eyes snapped between Sharpay's eyes and the tattoo. Her mouth moved as if she was trying to form words, trying but failing. Without being able to form coherent words, she just stepped forward and pushed her soon to be lover until she was pressed against the wall. She continued forward, making her own lips collide with Sharpay's. Sharpay's tongue again begged permission to explore Gabriella's mouth, permission which Gabriella denied.

Gabriella drew her head back and when Sharpay tried to follow, not wanting the kiss to be broken. But break it Gabriella did. Just as Sharpay was about to whine and complain, Gabriella again surprised her. She gave Sharpay the sultriest look she could muster and didn't break eye contact while she lowered herself to her knees.

Only when she had been on her knees for a couple of seconds did she break the eye contact by closing her eyes. Then she tenderly kissed the tattoo.

Sharpay flinched as her loves soft lips touched the still tender flesh. Then the smell of roses wafted up to her nose and again filled her nostrils. Surprisingly this relaxed Sharpay, it made her feel safe and comfortable; it made her feel like she was where she belonged.

She lost herself for what seemed like a moment but must have been more than that because when her head lifted out of her rose induced stupor, she was lying on her back staring up at Gabriella's ceiling. She puzzled for a second at the sight of her bra on the light fixture above her. She didn't have time to ponder how she got into this position as she felt a scream build up in her chest. She let it out full volume and then had to take a moment to catch her breath. She knew fully well what had just happened but she had to take a moment for her brain to process how it had happened. Then she remembered and lowered her eyes to look down her body until she found the smiling face of Gabriella Montez looking back up at her from where it was rested on her stomach.

She then watched as her Rose Goddess kissed her way up her body to reach her lips. They kissed passionately, Sharpay building up her energy with every passing second. When she felt strong enough she flipped Gabriella so she was now on top. Sharpay trailed butterfly kisses down Gabriella's body only stopping to peel the petals off of her Rose. Then she carried on her kisses but to where I cannot say...

* * *

And still the girls where blissfully unaware of Bob the Squirrel who had long since returned, bringing his nut with him the way a baseball fan would have peanuts. He might not have understood what was going on but he had his nut, and that was all that mattered to him.

* * *

Gabriella stirred from her sleep. She opened her eyes to find the most beautiful chocolate eyes looking back into hers. "Hey," she said sleepily.

"Hey," Sharpay purred in reply.

Gabriella groaned, "Down Sharpay."

Sharpay pouted her famous pout, a facial expression that Gabriella could just barely make out the gloom of her dark room. They had turned the light out after the... third time Gabriella estimated.

Gabriella sighed and raised herself onto her elbows, leaning forward to give Sharpay a chaste peck on the lips. "Now go to sleep," Gabriella said, settling herself back onto the comfort of her mattress. She shivered, "Where are the blankets?"

"Err I think... wait no I don't have a clue," Sharpay answered helpfully.

"Well your good aren't you?" Gabriella deadpanned.

"You weren't complaining," Sharpay teased, poking her tongue out at her now lover.

Gabriella sighed contentedly, "Well I can't be bothered to get them, and you can't be bothered to get them... so I guess we'll have to share body warmth."

"Now that's what I'm talking about," Sharpay said.

"No Sharpay! Bad Sharpay! Down!" Gabriella mock scolded.

Sharpay just chuckled softly and held her Rose's body close to her, feeling the warmth of skin flowing over her in waves of silk.

"But seriously," Sharpay started. "Better than Troy?" Sharpay was unable to keep a smile off of her face as she asked this.

"Yes," Gabriella answered honestly. "Better than anything I've ever felt before. And you know the best part?"

"What?" Sharpay asked, mildly interested as sleep began to set in

"I finally got to hear my Mountain Lion roar."

Sharpay's head reeled with the sheer cheesiness of that statement. "Goodnight Gabi," was all she could say in response.

For the only time in a long time, Gabriella didn't flinch at the use of her nickname. She actually smiled. She loved the way Sharpay said it. The way it rolled off her tongue just made it sound so...so... beautiful.

She couldn't help but to move her head up to capture her lover's lips with her own. She took advantage of her dozing state to deepen the kiss. Then she pulled away and snuggled into the crook of Sharpay's neck and waited for sleep to claim her. She didn't have to wait long.

Sharpay smirked in her 'dozing' state. She cuddled her Rose closer, pressing every inch of available skin against her lover's slender body. Her nose was nestled in the dark mane that sat atop Gabriella's head. She drifted off into sleep feeling safe and secure...

_Roses..._

**Apologises if it starts to not make sense towards the end but I kinda downed my Bacardi like a page before the end. **

**Anyway I had a really good AN planned for here but I can't remember it... **

**But methinks it went something like this:**

**You have no idea how hard this chapter was for me to write. Also this story is drawing to a close ****never mind. There are still at least 3 more chapters at the very least. **

**O and can I give a big shout out to StillThereForYou, Dr. Oscar Meyer and XxCasxX. Thanks for helping me with this chapter and stuff... YOU GUYS ROCK!!!**

**Anyway I bid you goodnight and ask if you would be so kind enough to leave a review. CarmelLuckyCharms could you please log in to review! Cause I wana thank you via PM. Also I haven't decided if this Bob the Squirrel is the same Bob that is the main character of HSM: The Squirrel Version. One day when I'm bored and lacking inspiration I might write a squirrel parody for all of my stories lol. I probably won't though. **

**R.F.L.C**

**X**


	24. World Without A Twin

**Yeah ****I**** know last chapter was a bit happy but it had to be.**** Doesn't mean this one has to be :-P**

**Hmm... ****Should**** the return of Troy be in this chapter or the next one? I'll probably decide as ****I**** write this...**

Sharpay jerked awake. Her eyes flew open and she sat up with a jolt as a spark of realisation shocked her body into action. She looked down to see blankets covering her body, _Where the hell did they come from?_

She shook this thought from her mind. She had more important things to focus on right now.

She threw the sweat drenched blankets off of her and got to her feet.

_Since when was it so hot in here?_

She walked to Gabriella's sliding plate glass doors. She slid one open and was met with a gust of cold air which her body welcomed gratefully. She realised she was breathing heavy and sweat dripped down her body.

_Forget it __Sharpay__ it was just a bad dream._

Except it wasn't.

_Ryan's dead Sharpay, accept it._

And she finally did. It finally had sunk in that Ryan was no longer with her.

_I've__ never __existed__ in a world where __I__ don't have a twin..._

_Wait that was what he said to me. But if he's dead then he's not in a world... wasn't that what we were brought up to believe?_

She heard a groan behind her and turned, welcoming the distraction from her own thoughts.

"Sharpay, why are you up so early?" Gabriella asked, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. She too had sat up in bed and Sharpay smiled and wondered how she could still look so good when it was first thing in the morning. Sharpay was about to say something when Gabriella's mouth suddenly dropped open.

"What?" Sharpay asked suddenly concerned. "What is it? Are you ok?"

Sharpay started to move towards the bed and the now fully awake beauty on it. Then Gabriella raised her hand with her palm facing towards Sharpay. "STOP!" Gabriella commanded. "Don't move a muscle."

Sharpay concern turned from concern for Gabriella into concern for herself, "Why? Is there something on me?"

Sharpay did as she was told and remained still. She nervously tried to look over her shoulder, seeing if there was anything on her. "Look Sharpay out there!" Gabriella yelled as she pointed to the left of Sharpay.

She looked out into the sky, following where Gabriella had been pointing. "What? What is it? Hang on there's nothing..." Realisation dawned on Sharpay. She started to turn back to Gabriella when...

FLASH

Sharpay had been temporarily blinded and she knew what by. She started to stumble in what she thought was the direction of the bed.

"Tell me you did not just take a picture of me."

Sharpay regained her sight to find she was nowhere near the bed. She did a 180 to look at Gabriella, sat there under the blankets with the biggest smirk ever on her face. Her eyes trailed down her body to finally stop on the digital camera that was currently sitting in her lap.

"Gimme that," Sharpay said, sticking her hand out in front of her.

Gabriella said nothing in reply and just sat there and shook her head looking like a smug ten year old who had picked up their fathers keys and was about to flush them down the toilet.

"Oh so I suppose I just have to come and get it do I?"

Still Gabriella sat there, looking like a smug ten year old. For about ten seconds she made no movement at all. Then she nodded her head, a movement which triggered Sharpay into action. Before she had time to move however, the door to Gabriella's room opened.

"Good morning dear," Gabriella's mum said perkily.

Sharpay eyes widened. She leapt for cover, suddenly very aware of the fact that she wasn't wearing any clothes. She was also suddenly very aware of the fact that Gabriella wasn't wearing any clothes either and that they were both in Gabriella's room, not wearing any clothes.

"OH MY!" Gabriella's mum exclaimed as she took in the sight of her daughter sat up in bed naked. Gabriella hurriedly grabbed the sheets to cover her chest. She was grateful that her mother chose to turn away at that moment as that was also the moment Sharpay chose to leap behind her bed to hide.

"Gabriella I know someone is in here," Gabriella's mum said, storming back into her room. "Now where is he?"

"He?" Gabriella asked confused.

"Yes HE. Where is Troy?"

"Troy isn't in here."

"Well then who is it?"

"Err..." Gabriella stuttered, trying to look for an answer. She looked around the room as if the answer would be written upon a wall or the ceiling... that was when her eyes saw what was hanging on the light fixture above her head. She thanked god that her mum looked in her closet for 'Troy' and took the opportunity to reach up and grab the bra that hung there. She then dropped it down the side of her bed to Sharpay.

Meanwhile, Sharpay screwed up her face in disgust at the Troy comment. Then a bra was dropped on her head which shocked her out of her funk. She quickly pulled it on and lay back on the floor on her stomach. She then looked up to find a pair of panties dropped to the side of her head. She silently thanked whoever was listening that they didn't land on her head like her bra had done. She picked them up and looked at them.

_Are they even mine? I thought __I__ was wearing __boyshorts_

She didn't recognise them but she looked up again to see a hand rummaging through an open draw above her head. The hand pulled out some boyshorts and dropped them. Then the hand was held out as if waiting for something to be put in them. Sharpay looked between the hand and what she held in her own hand. She had to do this a couple of times before her brain made the connection between the two. She thrust the panties into the open hand, glad to be rid of them. She reached for the boyshorts and pulled them on so she was now at least somewhat dressed.

Gabriella's mum had finished looking in the closet.

"Right!" she said, exasperated. "I know someone's here. When I came to say good night last night I saw you in your bed in someone's arms."

Gabriella's mum started to walk around the bed.

"If you saw that last night why didn't you do something then?" Gabriella asked. "Wait, you came into my room?!"

"I didn't do anything then because I didn't know you were in such a state of undress then! And yes, I come into your room everyday."

"What?! And how do you know I wasn't just changing just now?"

"What do you mean what? I'm your mother. And you never sit in bed to get changed. You don't like being naked so you change as quick as you can."

"Yeah but my room is my place. And I'll have you know I find being naked very freeing," Gabriella got more worried as her mum got closer to the side of the bed where Sharpay was hiding. "That's it, I want a lock!" was her last ditch attempt at distracting her mother.

"Yes yes that's very nice dear," her mother said not really paying attention. "And you take after your dad in that respect."

Gabriella sucked in a breath as her mum finally looked round the side of her bed. She let out that breath when her mum walked away.

Sharpay heard her girlfriends breathing and worried about her. It didn't sound at all like she was healthy. All that deep breathing didn't sound good at all. She watched the pair of feet walk back around the bed. She turned her head to the left and blew away a dust bunny that was way to close to her.

She decided to try to shift her weight away from her elbows on which she was resting. She cringed as the floor squeaked. The feet stopped at the foot of the bed. Silently cursing herself she looked around for an escape.

When Gabriella's mums head peered under the bed all she saw was a lone dust bunny, all on its lonesome.

Gabriella looked into the smiling eyes of her love and smiled back. She then pushed her love to the foot of her bed and folded back the blankets to cover her. She got up, having dressed herself in her underwear under the blankets. She was glad that during the night she had found the energy to get the blankets to cover both her and her Mountain Lion.

She smiled at her mother as she stood back up after searching under the bed. "See, no Troy."

Gabriella's mum grumbled something under her breath as she saw the open door to the balcony. She stepped through, out into the fresh air as if whoever she thought was there would be hanging around on the balcony.

Sharpay saw nothing and heard only muffled sound. She faintly heard Gabriella talking to her mum before hearing a door slam.

She waited; not wanting to reveal herself just in case Gabriella's mum was still in the room. She waited until she felt the blankets being lifted off of her.

She looked up half expecting to see Gabriella's mum stood over her red faced. Instead she saw the coffee coloured smiling brown eyes of her Rose.

"Sorry," Sharpay cringed. "I got you in trouble didn't I?"

"Yeah," Gabriella sighed. "Grounded and locked in my room."

"Locked in your room?"

"Yep."

"Right now?"

"Yep."

"Ah good times," she pulled Gabriella into her and kissed her softly and passionately.

It grew more and more passionate until both girls were completely oblivious to the world. So neither of them heard when a key was turned in the lock.

The door was opened and neither Gabriella nor Sharpay noticed. They only barely noticed when Gabriella's mum said, "Oh and Gabriella..."

Both girls froze. Sharpay tried to calculate it in her head.

_Nah, no chance of escaping this one Mountain Lion._

So they both stayed frozen, their eyes locked onto the others. They didn't know it but they both mirrored the fear in each others eyes.

Then they both looked towards the door expectantly.

"Oh," was all Gabriella's mum said. "Hi... Sharpie isn't it?"

Sharpay searched for her voice, "S...S...Sharpay actually."

"Well good morning Sharpay," Gabriella's mum said cheerily. "Would you like some coffee?"

"Err... no thank you."

"Ok well... have fun, keep doing what you're doing and erm..." Gabriella's mum stuttered. "Gay Pride!"

Sharpay shared a glance with Gabriella as the door closed. When they heard the click that signified the door had closed, they both burst out into laughter. Gabriella collapsed onto Sharpay in the throws of hilarity. Gabriella then rolled off Sharpay but rolled too far and rolled off the side of the bed. Gabriella stopped laughing and Sharpay just laughed harder.

"Shut up," Gabriella moaned while picking herself up off the floor.

"Sorry... but it... was v... very funny," Sharpay managed to say between giggles.

"Well let me just look at this picture and then we'll see who's laughing," Gabriella said, picking up the camera off the bedside table.

This stopped Sharpay's giggles dead.

"At least my mum accepts us. One parent down only yours to go," Gabriella mumbled as she fiddled with the camera.

But Sharpay wasn't paying attention. All that mattered to her at the moment was that camera and what was on it.

"Oh my god," Gabriella breathed as she looked down at the 2 inch screen.

"What?" Sharpay asked.

Gabriella ignored Sharpay and just went to her desk to power up her laptop.

"What? What is it?" Sharpay asked again.

Gabriella still ignored her and as soon as her laptop let her, she plugged her camera into her laptop.

"What is it?" Sharpay asked, almost yelling. She rolled her eyes and got up off the bed, walking over to look over Gabriella's shoulder.

Gabriella continued to ignore everything that her lover did. She pulled up the picture of Sharpay that she had taken.

"Oh my god," Sharpay breathed.

She looked breathtakingly beautiful. The rays from the rising sun outlined her in their pure white light. Whereas the light from the flash illuminated her eyes, making them sparkle. The photo was over exposed but in a good way, blurring Sharpay's body to preserve her modesty. The photo wouldn't have looked out of place on some gallery wall.

"I look... like..." Sharpay searched for the words inside her.

"Like an angel," Gabriella finished for her. Sharpay looked at her and saw the tears in her eyes. She smiled down at her love, not wanting her to cry. It went unnoticed though as Gabriella's eyes remained locked onto the image on the screen.

"And through it all, she offers me protection, a lot of love and affection, whether I'm right or wrong," Gabriella began to sing quietly.

As Sharpay recognised the song that was being sung to her, she felt her heart fill with love for her Rose Goddess.

"And down the waterfall, wherever it may take me, I know that life won't break me, when I come to call."

Gabriella was sat in a swivel chair so Sharpay pulled on it, making it swivel till she was face to face with Gabriella. She joined in the song, both their voices joining to create a harmony that was so beautiful it woke Bob the Squirrel from his slumber (he was going to regret spending the night in that tree later).

"She won't forsake me, I'm loving Angels instead."

As soon as the last note had been sung, Gabriella lurched forwards to capture her Mountain Lions lips with her own. Sharpay leaned back in surprise; the forwardness of her girlfriend surprising her. Usually Sharpay had to initiate things for them to happen. She leant back and Gabriella followed her. She leant back so far Gabriella tumbled from the chair to the floor. But luckily Sharpay was there to break her fall.

Still Gabriella would not let her blonde girlfriends lips go. She brought her tongue into play as well, wanting to try to show Sharpay just how much she wanted, needed and burned for her.

Gabriella finally gave up the 'treasure' she had captured but only because she needed to breathe.

"Ryan would love that photo," Gabriella whispered into Sharpay's ear. Sharpay's eyes filled with tears at the thought of her lost twin.

"He was always the more artistically appreciative twin," she continued, pulling away and finally seeing the tears that were now rolling down Sharpay's face. She lifted herself off of her lovers now heaving chest. She reached with her hands to go to wipe the tears off Sharpay's beautiful face.

Sharpay swatted her hands away and pushed herself up to walk out onto the balcony. Gabriella let her stand there for a moment before walking to join her.

She said nothing and just stood behind her, wrapping her arms around the blonde girl's waist. She rested her head on Sharpay's shoulder and kissed her neck.

Sharpay let the tears roll down her face uncontrolled. And then the sobs started.

And still Gabriella stood there, just holding her.

Sharpay reigned in the sobs that wracked through her body and turned to come face to face with those beautiful big brown eyes that were so full of love and concern. She looked into those big brown eyes and the sight of them broke the emotional dam that she had built inside to keep everything in.

She cried like she had never done in her live. Everything she had put behind that dam came crashing down upon her soul again. She couldn't take it all. All the pain and sorrow was crushing her inside. Everything was too much. So she collapsed.

She hadn't meant to. She had tried to lock her knees so she could stand on her own but she just couldn't stay on her feet anymore. Her knees buckled beneath her and she crumpled to a heap onto the decking of the balcony.

"He left me! He's gone! He's gone!" Sharpay wailed through her sobs. Gabriella immediately followed her to the floor and drew her into her embrace. She rocked her and whispered soothing things in her ear. She understood who Sharpay meant by "He", she wasn't an Einseinette for nothing.

She felt tears fill her own eyes as she remembered where she had got that nickname from.

Sharpay continued wailing until her voice was too hoarse to. Then she settled for whispering it to herself over and over again like a mantra.

When the wailing stopped, Gabriella pulled her declawed Mountain Lion away from her and held her face in her hands. "Sharpay," she started softly. When the blonde paid no attention to her and continued to whisper to herself Gabriella continued in a harsher voice, "Sharpay!"

When the blonde looked up at and gazed into those coffee brown eyes, Sharpay saw something change in Gabriella's eyes. She would later figure out that the change she saw was because of Gabriella's heart breaking.

"Listen to me," Gabriella basically pleaded through her own tears. "I know it's hard losing someone you love and I understand the pain and sorrow that's building inside you right now but Ryan wouldn't have wanted this for you."

At the mention of Ryan's name, anger sparked within Sharpay.

_How dare she? How dare she act like she understands?_

"I lost my dad remember? When he died I felt like I couldn't go on but here I am. If he never died I would have never moved to Albuquerque. And then I would have never of met you, the love of my life."

Sharpay felt both confusion and love swirl inside her but only let confusion show on her face.

"I'm just saying, it may seem like the end but really it could just be the beginning."

"The start of something new?" Sharpay asked, chuckling at her own joke.

"Exactly," Gabriella agreed, letting a smile spread across her face. "And if you ever need to talk or to cry or to do anything..."

"I know Gabi," Sharpay said before giving her a peck on the lips. "I know."

Gabriella smiled and pecked Sharpay on the lips this time before stopping when the faint sounds of a struggle reached her ears. Gabriella pulled away to walk back into her room, curious as to what was making the noise. She was quickly followed by Sharpay who was just as concerned as Gabriella, having heard the noise too.

"Oh Gabi," a voice carried up the stairs through the door and into Gabriella's room. "I think we need to talk."

Both girls looked at each other as they recognised the coldness of the voice. They would both never forget that voice.

_Crap._

**OOO! To quote Eminem:**

**Ha-Ha!**

**Please review**

**R.F.L.C**

**X**


	25. Here's Troy!

**Yeah I know the name of this chapter is a complete rip off of **_**The Shining **_**but it was either that or 'Guess whose back?' which sucked.**

**I read through the last chapter after ****I**** posted it and have only just realised how many mistakes there were. I was deeply a****shamed of myself for them all. Also ****I**** revised the whole chapter, adding little things like more conversation between Gabriella's mum and Gabriella.**

**Just a little trivia for you all before ****I**** write the chapter ****I**** am most looking forward to writing; the song 'Angels' was the song sung by Vanessa Hudgens in her High School Musical audition.**

_**Disclaimer: **__**I**__** own nothing. I really should put more disclaimers...**_

**I also just found out that this story has been nominated in the HSM slash awards!!!**** This one for Gabriella/Sharpay and **_**When Somebody Loved Me **_**for Taylor/Sharpay!!! Thanks to people who nominated and stuff!**

Gabriella turned back to look wide-eyed at her blonde lover. Sharpay met her gaze and rushed forward to hold her Rose in her arms.

"Oh Gabi..." the voice again called, drawing out the 'i'. "Where are you Gabi...?"

Sharpay looked down to see her lovers eyes fill with salty tears. When Gabriella buried her head into Sharpay's neck, Sharpay made no objection. She instead drove her head into Gabriella's hair and nibbled on her ear before she whispered, "You have to do this."

She then withdrew her head and gently nudged Gabriella away from her. After treating her to a quick peck on the lips, Sharpay walked to the closet and only just managed to get herself inside before she heard Gabriella's bedroom door open.

She left the closet door open a crack so she could still see what was going on in the room outside. What she saw confirmed her worst fears.

Troy.

She thought he had been arrested. After what she had told the police, she didn't think he would escape what he had done. Her eyes locked onto her love and what she saw made her heart break.

Gabriella looked so scared, so fragile, so... so... dead. All she wanted to do was run out there and take her into her arms. But she knew she couldn't. So even though it killed her, she stayed inside the closet, nestled between the clothes.

"Hey babe," he said, moving to take her into his arms.

Gabriella jerked away from him and Sharpay couldn't help but smirk. "What do you want?" Gabriella said, not even bothering to attempt to cover the disdain in her voice. She looked Troy up and down, disgust evident in her face.

"Is that anyway to speak to the love of your life?" Troy asked, mock hurt in his tone and on his face. He again stepped towards Gabriella and she again moved away from him.

"You are not the love of my life."

"Oh and who is? That blonde bitch with the fag twin who's dead?"

For that, Gabriella had no comeback. Inside her, her temper flared but she would not let him have the satisfaction of seeing it.

Sharpay however was not so lucky. She couldn't help but let put a low growl that built from the back of her throat until she caught herself.

_No __Sharpay__, he can't know you're here. You know what he's __capable__ of, what he threatened to do and did do. He'll kill her __Sharpay__, like he killed Ryan..._

So Sharpay kept her rage in check. True she wanted nothing more than to leap from this closet and rip the bastard's throat out with her bare hands, but there was always that chance he would get the upper hand. And if he got the upper hand, she would most probably lose and that meant she could lose not only her life but the life of her one and only love. She would never let that happen. She would sooner die than see Gabriella go through the pain that Troy would make her endure.

_But surely if he killed you that would be pain enough for Gabriella. She would have to live everyday without you with her. __If__ you think of how much that would hurt you it would hurt Gabriella the same if not more..._

As this thought surged into her mind, she noticed that Troy had started walking towards the closet. He turned back to Gabriella and said something that Sharpay couldn't hear but she knew it was bad. To be honest, Sharpay breathed a sigh of relief as she realised she wouldn't have the chance to ponder her thought further. If she did that she would probably confuse herself and that was never good.

She got ready, already playing the fight through in her head. Troy would open the door and Sharpay would spring out and hit him over and over again. Oh and she would bite and claw. There would be no holds barred in this fight. She wanted his blood.

_Now you sound like a vampire you dork..._

Sharpay shook her head to clear it and settled into position, tensing her leg muscles until they were burning. She ignored the pain and focused on her rage, building it up inside herself until it filled her entirely. It fuelled her every muscle, having flowed round her body being carried by her blood. Troy's hand reached out for the handle of the closet door and Sharpay's heart beat faster, pumping the rage filled blood round her body faster.

Troy pulled open the door.

_Stupid twit._

It was just like him to open the wrong bloody door.

_No don't go for the one that's already partially open you pillock, open the door that is actually closed and doesn't have the Mountain Lion hiding behind it! Twazock..._

The shadow of Troy that was cast into the open half of the closet distorted like the person was leaning forwards. Still Sharpay sat there, waiting for his head to peek round the door so she could claw out his eyes.

But his head never did peek around the door.

Sharpay looked down at the shadows to see that another had now joined the one Troy cast. She didn't know how but Gabriella was holding him off in some way.

There were sounds of a fight and Troy muttered and shouted numerous naughty words before both the shadows withdrew from the open doorway. Sharpay chanced a glance round the door to see what was going on.

She smirked widely at what she saw. Her Rose was on Troy's back in some demented piggy back of pain. She had one arm round his neck, throttling him and the other arm was free to attack his face or any other part of his anatomy she could reach. She was currently swiping her hand at his face and Sharpay couldn't help but let out a little grimace when she saw the deep red marks that were left afterwards. She then sniggered at the effect it had on Troy. He hooted and hollered in pain and Sharpay's snigger turned into a snort of laughter.

Sharpay's hand flew to her mouth as if that would undo what had just happened. No such luck.

Troy, who had turned to have his back facing her, whipped his whole body around to see where the noise had come from. Troy hated being laughed at. Almost as much as he hated the humiliation of losing his 'girlfriend' to another girl.

So you could imagine the wild look in his cobalt eyes right about now.

Troy lost it. He went completely mental. He had just been laughed at by his 'girlfriends' girlfriend and that was just going to far.

He simply shrugged of Gabriella, making her drop heavily to the floor. As soon as she was off him he charged towards Sharpay like a raging bull.

Sharpay felt a glimmer of fear cloud her mind before it was replaced with what she like to call her 'FUCK YOU!' state of mind. She was sure the emotion had a proper name but there was not time to waste trying to think of it now.

Sharpay set her legs into motion, letting the built up tension in her leg muscles go making her spring up to meet Troy. She unleashed herself, letting her claws and teeth go mental. Jason definitely had gotten off lucky. And if Troy thought he had got his ass handed to him before he had another thing coming.

Sure she took a few hits but she really did roll with the punches. Especially when Troy hit her so hard she fell to the ground. He went to jump on top of her and she just rolled out of the way. Then, quick as a cat, she was up again, dancing around him peppering him with punches and scratches. But barely any punches he threw actually made any kind of contact, except when she stood in front of the wall and dodged out the way.

His anger built up and built up with every missed punch and him hitting the wall just made him lose it even more, if that were humanly possible. But Sharpay was beginning to wonder if he really was human. She didn't know how he was still standing.

_Hell you don't even know how you're still standing..._

She felt her feet leave the floor and she knew Troy had picked her up. He had her in a vice like grip with one arm over her ribs and the other round her stomach. He started to squeeze her and she felt all the air leave her lungs. She was facing away from him so flailing with her legs wasn't working in her plan to loosen his grip. So she gave up and went with plan B. Seeing as her arms were also pinned to her sides by his arms so using them was out of the question.

_So what is plan B?_

She did the only thing that seemed available to her. She squirmed in his grasp hoping it would then loosen.

Only it didn't.

Still the pressure his arms exerted on her body grew. She couldn't breathe. Her vision grew fuzzy and she heard nothing except the beating of her heart. Then the pressure was relived, her vision grew sharper and sound returned to the world.

She was vaguely aware of being thrown against a hard surface which revealed itself to be the floor when she turned her head. She heard a shout and snapped her head back around to look at Troy who was about to jump on her again.

_No time to roll this time Sharpay..._

So she didn't. She just lay there and steeled herself for the crushing weight that would shatter her already bruised ribs. Then she had a brain wave.

She brought her knee up to her chest just as Troy started his decent.

She had been hoping to wind him by catching him in the stomach. She did wind him, but not by kneeing him in the stomach.

If Sharpay had had the time, she would have laughed at the Hottie Superbomb who was now wrong on the floor, hands clasped over his crotch as if that would protect him from the injury that had already been done. What was so funny was that it was his own stupid fault. He was the one who had misjudged his jump.

But Sharpay had no time to appreciate the hilarity of the situation. In a flash she had pulled herself to her feet, using the bed frame as leverage. Clutching at her ribs and breathing in deeply to try to quell the sharp pain that jolted through her every time she moved, she made her way over to Gabriella who was still on the floor where Troy had dropped her.

"Gabriella, baby," Sharpay half whispered into her ear. "Wake up, we gotta go."

Gabriella stirred and mumbled something about five more minutes and that was when Sharpay decided she would need some extra persuading.

"Troy."

Gabriella's eyes flew open as she remembered what had happened. She was on her feet in a millisecond. She saw Troy on the floor and took a moment to smirk at his weakness. Then she reached down and pulled Sharpay to her feet. They both started towards the door but Sharpay stumbled and nearly fell to the floor again on the way. Gabriella wasted no time in hooking Sharpay's arm over her slender shoulders and using her arm to hold Sharpay up. Within a second they were both out the door and at the top of the stairs.

"We need to get out of here," Sharpay said stating the blatantly obvious. She let herself be half-carried by Gabriella down the stairs but at the bottom she broke away, removing her arm from around Gabriella's shoulders. Gabriella gave her a quick glance which was full of concern for the other girl. Sharpay shot her a reassuring smile back and took the chance to wince in pain when Gabriella turned away. When Gabriella turned her eyes back to her love she regarded her again with concern as if she had seen the wince.

_Wait a minute where the hell would we go dressed as we are this early in the morning?_

"The neighbours," Gabriella said suddenly, as if reading her thoughts. "We can go there."

Sharpay locked eyes with Gabriella, and both girls saw only love in the eyes of the other.

Sharpay gave a quick nod as to give her consent to the plan and both girls moved as one down the hall to the front door. As they got nearer to the end of the hall, a horrible sight met Sharpay's eyes.

Gabriella's mum was slumped against the wall, her neck at an impossible angle. Her glassy eyes stared straight at the two girls yet Sharpay knew they saw nothing. Even though she had never been particularly close to the woman, she felt her heart break for Gabriella's sake. She now understood the look that had been in Gabriella's eye as she had sobbed about Ryan to her because she knew she now had the exact same look in her own eye as she turned to draw Gabriella into her arms. But Gabriella shrugged her off, and Sharpay recognised her own behaviour in what Gabriella was doing; she was going into denial. Sharpay watched as Gabriella's eyes filled with tears which did not fall but merely stayed there, watering up her eyes.

She let one single sob out before she calmed herself and looked up into Sharpay's eyes. And there she saw it, the dam. A coldness had come over Gabriella. Quickly Sharpay turned her gaze away from Gabriella's, mindful of the effect Gabriella's eyes had on her own dam. That dam could not break.

_Well not now anyway._

If that dam broke now, Gabriella would be in no state to get out of this house and that was the most important thing for them to do right now. With one last look at the corpse that had not ten minutes before been calling her 'Troy', Sharpay turned Gabriella away and they both moved as fast as they could to the back door.

As soon as they were outside, Sharpay let Gabriella go as she let her love throw up. She might be in denial about what she had just seen but Sharpay knew that just the sight of another human being with their neck as twisted as that was enough to make anyone at least woozy. She herself felt light headed but she held it in. Gabriella straightened again and wiped off her mouth. She then opened her mouth to speak but Sharpay silenced her with a finger to her own lips. She then used her other hand to take a hold of Gabriella's wrist. Gabriella wrenched her wrist out of Sharpay's grasp and instead wove their fingers together. They started to move but a voice made them freeze.

"Aww ain't that sweet."

Troy jumped to the ground from the last branch. Upon hitting the ground, he took a little longer to stand up straight than he would have usually. Sharpay took that opportunity to turn back to the house but when she tried to move she found that Gabriella wasn't moving with her. She turned back to look at her Rose with concern but found that Gabriella only had eyes for one person; Troy.

Sharpay was shocked as she heard a growl come from her Rose, the one sound she had never heard from that beautiful throat. She was even more shocked when Gabriella launched herself at Troy. As she watched a thought dawned on her:

_Is that what I'm like?_

She watched as Gabriella went ape shit on Troy's face. She watched as her love snarled and scratched her way through Troy's consciousness.

Sharpay felt something she had never felt for Gabriella before. But before she had a chance to put a name to the emotion, she realised she had to do something.

She approached Gabriella cautiously. She knew that if she went about this the wrong way, she could easily be the one in Troy's position.

"Gabi..." Sharpay said in a whisper. Then she realised using that nickname might not be the best idea because of the whole Troy thing. She reassessed the situation, knowing just speaking to her would not work and that touching her might be going too far. But sucking it up she bit the proverbial bullet and lent in, gently touching Gabriella's shoulder, "You are my Rose."

Gabriella immediately froze, turning to look up at Sharpay with her big brown eyes. But this time they were not filled with concern or love, they were empty. There was no difference between her eyes at the moment and the eyes of her mum.

"What are we going to do with him?" Sharpay asked not wanting to look into those deeply disturbing eyes anymore.

"I have an idea," Gabriella said, her voice like ice. "Go up stairs and get dressed."

Sharpay was about to ask why but then she saw that she no longer had Gabriella's attention. So even if she asked she would get no reply.

With nothing else to do, she turned on her heel and walked back into the house. She spared a quick glance over her shoulder back at Gabriella to see her standing up over Troy and grabbing his arms to drag him towards the garage.

She let out a heart felt sigh and plodded back up the stairs into Gabriella's room. She didn't even look at Gabriella's mum. She just went straight up the stairs, looking down at the floor. She didn't look up until she was stood in front of Gabriella's closet.

She looked through the tops to find a new top for her to wear. She found a white wife-beater and pulled it on before walking over to the desk to retrieve her jeans from under it. She pulled them on and froze before doing them up. She had just put a name to the emotion she had felt when Gabriella was scratching Troy's face to bits. It was fear.

She tried to shake it off, but still the feeling nagged at the edge of her consciousness. She ignored it and continued getting dressed. But still it would not leave her.

She let out a sigh as she started her way back down the stairs and through into the garage. She couldn't have been gone more than 15 minutes but apparently that had been time enough for Gabriella to put her horrid plan into action.

Sharpay's jaw dropped as she looked at Troy who was standing up in the middle of the empty garage, but not of his own free will. He had ropes running from his wrists to the empty rack above his head and ropes running from his ankles to the beams that went from the floor to the ceiling. All the ropes were tied securely and so tight that he was held up by the ropes around his wrists.

She looked around the racks of tools to try to find Gabriella. Her eyes found her Rose bent over looking inside a fairly old looking fridge that sat in the far corner. She stood up and closed the fridge with her foot. In her hands she held two bottles of beer. She walked over to Sharpay and used the edge of the table to open the bottles before handing one to Sharpay and taking a swig out of the other one herself.

Sharpay took the beer that was offered to her before turning back to look at Troy. She felt Gabriella's warm breath on her neck before she felt Gabriella's lips on her ear.

She looked at Troy's bloodied face as Gabriella nibbled on her ear. Disgust and bliss mingled within her. Gabriella whispered "Wonderful isn't it?" in her ear before pulling back away from her neck. Sharpay turned her back to Troy, not being able to stomach looking at him anymore. She watched as Gabriella took another swig of beer, using it to wash out her mouth before spitting it out. She wiped the dribble of beer from the corner of her mouth.

"You stay here," Gabriella said. Sharpay shivered at the thought of doing that. "I'm going to get dressed."

Without giving Sharpay a chance to say anything, Gabriella gave her a chaste kiss on the lips before spinning round and walking quite calmly out the door.

Sharpay turned back to Troy, her eyes staring at his wounded and bleeding face. Try as she might she could not move her eyes from that sight. She used the time her lover was gone to process what had happened. She went over everything that had lead her to where she now stood, in a garage with an unconscious murderer who was strung up in such a way that it wouldn't have looked out of place in a SAW film.

_How the fuck did this happen?_

**Sorry if I offended anyone with the language I used.**

**Like I said, I revised the last chapter so it hopefully makes more sense.**

**Please review.**

**R.F.L.C**

**X**


	26. Everything Comes Around

**First things first... I have to dedicate this chapter to the amazing Tristan!!! Aka Dr Oscar Meyer. He has been so much of a help to me throughout this whole story. Thank u dude!!!**

**Secondly... I got over 100 reviews!!! Whoop whoop! That's a first for me so sorry that I'm making a big deal out of this but meh lol. Thank you everyone who has read and reviewed this story all the way through. I'm afraid this is the penultimate c****hapter. Or you could read it as**** the end if you really, really wanted.**

**Thirdly, I won best Gabriella/Sharpay pairing in the Slash awards!!! How the hell did that happen? I beat **_**Surrender**_**. Wow... thanks to everyone who voted and stuff. Seriously, thank you.**

**It has been brought to my attention that there were quite a few mistakes with this story, so I going through every chapter and editing it and changing things so they fit. There is one quite minor change in this chapter which makes a little change to the story.**

**Now on with the story... and I think Troy deserves everything he's guna get don't you? But can the girls deal with the consequences?**** And how does Bob fit into all of this? ****Could**** this be the end of our favourite squirrel?**

Sharpay heard the click of the door behind her, signifying the re-entrance of her lover. Still she stayed where she stood, looking up at Troy's limp form. She felt a twinge of something resembling regret run through her mind. She immediately shook it off and dismissed its presence, forgetting it was ever there.

"He did it you know," Gabriella said softly from behind her. "He killed him."

Her last statement echoed round and round in Sharpay's mind. Round and round until it was all she could hear.

_He killed him..._

Her eyes travelled down Troy's body, taking in the sight of his tight abs and six-pack.

_They look to perfect..._

She stepped forward and ran her fingertips across them, marvelling at how rough his skin was. She looked back up to his face, wanting to see if she had gotten any reaction out of him by doing this. She saw nothing, not even a twitch.

This disappointed her.

So she began to dig her nails in. She left four bloody trails diagonally down his chest. Never did she take her eyes off of his face. Still there was nothing.

She let her lips curl into a snarl, anger sparking to life within her. How dare he not react?

_Oh __I'll__ make him move..._

She began to reach down when she felt someone touch her arm gently. Bliss filled her with the slight touch, driving away the anger for the moment. She ran her fingers once more over Troy's stomach before turning quickly to the raven haired temptress stood behind her. She took her into her arms and kissed her passionately. She slid her hands under Gabriella's shirt and let her fingertips roam over Gabriella's soft flesh. She was in awe at how supple Gabriella's skin was compared to Troy's.

_You see this is why you like girls better than boys..._

Sharpay pulled away from Gabriella, needing to breathe. She looked back over her shoulder at Troy and felt her anger spark within her once again.

Not really wanting to but needing to she stepped away from Gabriella to stand in front of the Playmaker. He had been stripped down to his underwear and Sharpay saw a pile of clothes out of the corner of her eye. She smirked at how helpless he now looked, hung there naked and unconscious. Her mind flashed back to all the times he had looked down at her the way she now looked down on him.

"I think..." Gabriella started, stepping up behind her to wrap her arms around her waist and nuzzle into her neck. "I think it might be time to wake our sleeping hottie up."

Sharpay let an evil smirk spread across her lips. "And how may I ask," Sharpay said still looking at Troy. "Do you plan to do that?"

"I think you might know..."

Sharpay's smirk grew even wider as an idea flashed through her head. "Wait here," she commanded Gabriella. "Feel free to do whatever you want."

With that Sharpay left the room. She had no qualms about what she was about to do or what Gabriella was doing. That scumbag deserved everything he got. No-one could get away with the things he had done.

She walked into Gabriella's backyard and filled a bucket with water. She tested the temperature.

_Good..._

She left the bucket outside and went inside to the freezer. She found the bag of ice Gabriella's mum always kept in the bottom draw. It was one of those huge bags full of about ice that you could easily buy on the cheap that would last forever even if you threw continuous parties where you needed ice. The bag was about half full. Sharpay frowned and grabbed a knife out of the cutlery draw. She chipped away at the ice that had built up in the freezer, making most of it land in the bag. The freezer started beeping at her, wanting to be closed to the outside world. She ignored it.

She kept chipping away at the ice until the bag was decently full. She then took a moment to look down at her handiwork. She kept hold of the knife and dragged the bag out to the garden. It was pretty hard work. She even broke a nail. But she didn't really notice.

Sharpay wasn't the same Sharpay she once was. She cared nothing for her appearance or how she appeared to others. She cared more for the truly important people in her life, which had now been whittled down to only Gabriella.

She had disowned her father like he had disowned Ryan when he came out of the closet. Ryan being thrown out gave Sharpay the exit clause she had been looking for. She hated her mother at the best of times and was glad she was dead. As for her father, well there were not enough words to describe how she felt about him, but the words there were that could be used were mostly made up of only four letters. She had only stayed there for the money they offered her and because if she left she knew she would probably not see Ryan again.

One night after her mother's death, her father had come into her room, totally wasted, and done stuff to her she had never talked about to another soul.

_Another reason why you like girls..._

A girl could never hurt her the way her father did.

Gabriella would never hurt her the way her father did.

He whispered to her every time, told her it was their little secret, told her how much she reminded him of her mother. He made her believe that it was all her fault.

_If you hear something __enough__ it becomes true..._

The first time it had happened, Sharpay had made the mistake of trying to resist.

As soon as she had tried to push him off she regretted it. Punch after punch landed on her lean body. Sharpay had cried and cried, shouting out for Ryan to come and protect her. But he never came. How could he? He was across town staying over at Jason's house, being subjected to the same treatment.

At least twice every week, her dad did those same things to her.

He had tried one last time, about a year ago now, and she had resisted. And once again the fists fell on her. Only this time was different. This time she had started to live up to her Mountain Lion nickname. She fought back.

She fought with her father and had run when she knocked him to the floor.

She got as far as the top of the stairs before he caught up with her.

Ryan wasn't home again which was good because she really didn't want him to see her kick her father in such a way she was certain they wouldn't have any other brothers or sisters. While he was doubled over in pain, she saw an opportunity and took it. She ran at him and used all her body weight to make him tumble and fall.

She called an ambulance and played the part of the distressed daughter whose father had fallen accidently down the stairs. He had broken his leg in three places and had dislocated his shoulder.

Sharpay's only regret was that the bastard didn't die.

But things changed. Never again did her father come into her room. Never again did her father look her in the eye. Never again did Sharpay feel so unrepentant for causing such harm for someone. Even with Jason she felt a twinge of guilt.

_Hmm __didn't__ he have to have like twenty five stitches in his face just to keep it all __together?__He probably looks like... like a guy with a really scarred face. No wonder no-ones seen him since he was put under house arrest..._

Sharpay reawakened to the world. Having been lost in her memories for the past few minutes, her body had been on autopilot and had continued to drag the bag into the backyard. She reached the bucket and dropped the bag. She grabbed the bottom corners of the bag in her hands and lifted. Most of the ice fell into the bucket, making it overflow the sides.

The water ran out onto the grass and flowed over her feet. A shiver ran up her spine and she took a sharp breath.

_Very good..._

She heard a squeak and looked up to see a bushy tailed red squirrel in a branch over her head. She looked at it blankly, only barely registering its existence.

She turned back to the bucket and picked it up. She lugged it towards the door in the back of the garage. She shoved the door open before plodding through with the bucket still weighing her down. The door took a long time to swing closed, time enough for something to slip through unnoticed.

* * *

Sharpay set the bucket down and looked up to see her love digging her nails into Troy's flesh. Blood flowed down Gabriella's fingers. 

When the door closed, Gabriella turned around to look upon her lover. She saw what she had brought with her and smiled, putting two and two together in her mind.

She sauntered over and helped Sharpay to move the bucket till it was in front of Troy.

They both lifted it up above their heads. Neither girl's strength wavered. Neither of them wobbled or gave any sign of weakness. Then they dumped it onto Troy's head.

They didn't tip it; they literally dumped it, letting the bucket fall upturned onto Troy's head.

He jerked awake, already straining against his bonds.

Gabriella and Sharpay laughed their heads off at the sight of Troy whipping his head around with a bucket atop his head. His skin was red raw from the icy cold of the water. All it took was the bucket rubbing against his face and shoulders to chafe his skin.

The girls heard Troy's cries of pain and only laughed harder. Troy heard them and his anger raged through him. "Where am I?" he yelled, seeing only the darkness of the bucket around his head. "Get this thing off my head!"

Gabriella stepped forward and obliged his wish. As soon as he saw her he tried to launch himself forwards to attack her, but he didn't move very much.

Sharpay watched as Troy looked I horror at his bonds. She wiped tears from her eyes and grew deadly serious. "It's time for you to pay Troy."

"You can't push a person that far," Gabriella said, moving around to stand beside Sharpay.

"People crack Troy," Sharpay continued.

"That's what happened to me," Gabriella stated simply, looking at Sharpay. She leaned in and gave her a quick peck on the lips. "And now it's what's guna happen to you," her tone turned more sinister as she went and stuck her face into Troy's as she growled the last syllables.

Troy lurched forward and bit down hard. Gabriella had seen this coming and dodged back to safety. Troy's teeth clamped down on thin air, only serving to infuriate him further. He went mad and struggled against his bonds even harder which only rubbed more skin from his wrists and ankles.

However, Sharpay noticed that Troy lent forward farther than he had done before. Gabriella turned her back to him and Sharpay saw that evil glint light up those sapphire eyes of his. She moved her mouth, starting to form the warning she was going to shout at her lover, but the words formed too late.

Troy lurched forward to bit into Gabriella's supple flesh. She cried in pain and started to trash around to get him to let go. It didn't work. Sharpay ignored the noises of flesh tearing and launched herself forward to grasp Troy's jaw firmly. She pressed down on the back of Troy's jaw with one hand and forced it open with the other.

Gabriella rushed forward, as far away from Troy as she could get. She held onto her shoulder where he had bit her. Sharpay let go of his jaw in disgust and watched him smile in that evil way he did so well. He bared his now blood stained teeth and Sharpay felt bloodlust run through her.

She let fly a punch that hit Troy on his temple, leaving him dazed and confused. Then, as much as it sickened her to do so, she did to him what he had done to Gabriella. The seconds that she spent, feeling his hot blood flow into her mouth, stretched and strained into what felt like hours. But still she stayed latched onto him. She only let go when she heard a click from behind her. She turned to see Gabriella with and old style six-shooter pistol in her hands.

She held onto her shoulder where Troy had bit her but Sharpay could still see blood flowing from between her fingers down her body to stain the white vest top she was wearing. "Gabriella?" Sharpay said under her breath.

Gabriella said nothing and aimed up the gun with a surprisingly steady hand. Her finger grew tighter on the trigger.

"Gabriella!"

Sharpay managed to jump out of range as Gabriella squeezed off a shot into Troy's left shin.

Troy screamed in pain.

Sharpay rushed up to Gabriella, the blood lust lifting from her eyes.

Click.

"Gabriella!!!"

Bam.

Another shot. This time into Troy's right elbow. Sharpay noted that Gabriella had shockingly good aim.

Troy this time only grunted.

She lined up another shot.

Bam.

Only this time Sharpay got to Gabriella in time and pushed her arm making her miss her intended target of Troy's head.

The bullet embedded itself in the far wooden wall of the garage. Unknown to both girls though was the fact that on the way it clipped the rope holding up Troy's left arm.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Sharpay yelled at Gabriella.

"Giving him what he deserves," Gabriella deadpanned, lining up another shot.

"Stop it!" Sharpay bellowed, swatting down Gabriella's arm.

She grabbed a hold of the gun barrel, ignoring the burning metal on her skin. She wrenched the horrible thing out of Gabriella's hands and dropped it to the floor.

"Gabriella this isn't the way!" Sharpay lowered her voice to an acceptable in-the-house level. "We can't just kill him."

"Why not?" Gabriella screamed, outraged. Tears filled her eyes and started to fall down her cheeks. "He killed my mother! He killed Ryan!"

Sharpay could tell that Gabriella was trying to appeal to the spark of rage that was building inside her. And she was ashamed to say that the mention of her twin had its desired effect. Her rage roared up inside her. But she would not give voice to it or let it out in anyway. Not again.

_Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to sufferin__g... ah __I__ knew Ryan forcing me to watch Episode one would pay off one day..._

"I know Gabi," Sharpay soothed, reaching out to hold her love's shoulders in her hands. Gabriella collapsed against Sharpay's chest. "I know baby," she whispered into Gabriella's ear, smoothing her hair down.

Lost in their own worlds of pain, neither girl noticed Troy loosening his bonds.

Gabriella looked up into Sharpay's loving chocolate eyes and leaned in to initiate a slow and passionate kiss which both girls lost themselves in.

So neither girl noticed when Troy stepped forward and scooped up the gun in his bleeding hands.

One girl did notice though when a burning hot bullet scorched its way through her gut.

Sharpay noticed Gabriella had frozen and pulled away and opened her eyes just in time to see her one and only love fall to the floor.

She went numb and only knew she had been pushed to the floor when she saw it rushing up to meet her.

She landed but felt nothing.

She was pulled into a sitting position and her eyes locked onto a cold blue pair that belonged to the killer of her Rose. All feeling returned to her as her head was forcefully turned to watch Gabriella twitch and writhe through her last moments of life.

"Everybody dies," Troy whispered in her ear. "It's just a question of when."

She heard the bullet click into place in the chamber and welcomed it. She welcomed the thought of death, the thought of release of what would now surely be a hellish existence.

An existence without her Rose.

She waited for the bullet to come but never felt it. She heard it and expected it but never felt it.

She turned to look upon Troy and to see what had happened.

The sight that met her eyes would have been comical if she had not just watched her love die.

Troy was dancing around like the crazy man he was with a squirrel running all over him.

Sharpay took the moment to process what had happened.

_He killed her._

_He killed him._

_He killed them both._

Sharpay couldn't hold back the snarl that rose from her throat, not that she wanted to.

Sharpay looked around, her eyes finally settling on a large piece of wood leaning against the wall. She rushed toward to pick it up, wielding it above her head.

She lurched towards Troy and swung the wood round. The crunch she heard as it hit Troy in the shoulder made her feel a strange satisfaction. She watched as Troy collapsed in a heap on the floor, barely taking in the fact that the squirrel jumped to safety before they fell.

She grabbed the gun and threw it across the garage.

She took both his arms in one hand and held them above his head.

She then took away his only other weapon...

As he lay on the floor, squirming in pain, Sharpay took a moment to savour her victory. Then she recognised that it had not come without a price. She looked back over her shoulder at her fallen love and used the sight to fuel the rage inside her.

Now she let that rage have a voice. She let it out. She let it all out on his pretty boy face.

It wasn't long before all she was doing was grinding pieces of skull into the floor of the garage.

And that was the way she stayed, for how long she didn't know or care.

When she was finally done, she managed to drag herself to her feet before she collapsed out of exhaustion.

She lay there, on the floor in a sticky pool of blood, next to Gabriella and smoothed down her hair again.

"It's guna be ok baby," Sharpay whimpered through her tears. "It's all guna be ok. I promise I won't let anything happen to you."

Bob the squirrel sat up in the rack above Sharpay's head, surveying the carnage below him. He may not have understood what it all meant but he sure understood what the girl below him was feeling.

He watched as she cried herself to sleep.

"Squeak," he squeaked quietly out of respect of the girl below him.

**There you go.**** You could read this as the end if you wanted but if you would like a happier ending then read on to the next chapter... when I post it of course though.**

**RentFreak, they didn't ring the police because if they had then none of this would have happened and it would have ruined the story. Lmao.**

**Also, I am proud to announce Chad AND Ryan will be back...**

**I would also like to confirm that Sharpay's mum is indeed dead.**** And it isn't Sharpay's father who is under house arrest- it is Jason for what he did to Ryan.**

**Please review.**

**R.F.L.C**

**X**


	27. The Cliff

**Ok ****I**** really ****didn't**** like the last chapter, ****I felt**** it might have let the whole story down.**** And then ****I**** edited it but it still kinda sucks methinks...**

**So you could have stopped reading last chapter and used that as an end point for this story.**

**Or you can go onto read this chapter to have a slightly happier ending to the story (depending on your definition of happy).**

**But feel free to read on and enjoy...**

Sharpay stood there, frozen like the ground beneath her feet.

She wasn't aware of the passage of time at all. Someone told her it had all happened a week ago but she couldn't pinpoint when somebody told her that, it could have been yesterday or a week ago.

She didn't know and she didn't care. There was no point to her life anymore.

She didn't really see people anymore, only blurry outlines. Someone would talk to her and she could only tell who it was by the sound of their voice. Not that she cared in the slightest who it was who talked to her. No-one and nothing was important to her anymore.

Her Rose was gone; wilted, blackened, dead.

Her twin was much the same way. Not wilted but blackened and dead.

She felt like her heart had died with them both.

She had a vague memory of standing beside a ton of people dressed in black. But beyond that was all a jumbled mess. At least that was how it appeared it her mind. She couldn't differentiate the day before yesterday as too something that could have happened a month before.

Eventually everything dissolved into a haze as she gave up on life. There was no sense for her in the world. That was probably why everything looked like an Impressionist painting to her.

She had no idea how she got here. She didn't even know where here was. She had taken to going for random walks where she had no control over her feet and where they took her. Usually someone would come and get her but she saw no blurry outlines amongst the smudgy green that surrounded her.

Not that she looked very hard.

She had no clue how long she was stood in that spot but after a while she noticed her vision start to slip into focus. The smudges congealed into one big green mass before splitting into separate stalks of grass.

If she had shown emotion she would have been standing there open-mouthed in shock before jumping up and down in delight now that the world had returned to her.

But she didn't. Not because she didn't have the energy because she hadn't eaten for as long as she could remember, but because what point was there in seeing the world now?

Every colour was darker and more washed out than she remembered it to be. The green was not a luscious green like she knew it should be. She turned to see a spot of red on the horizon.

Not a normal red, but a vivid red that stood out from the dull green around it. She started towards it, a hope building in her heart.

Her heart beat faster and faster as her walk turned into a run. Her heart swelled with hope as the dot grew more and more. Her heart hammered against her ribcage until she was sure it would break at least one of her ribs. She couldn't remember her heart beating like this. Then her mind thought back to the last night she actually felt alive.

She felt her heart soar as she remembered the euphoria she had felt that night and how she felt in her heart then.

It had been like a missing piece of her had returned to her. They had joined and Sharpay had never felt more complete. Everything had felt right, then and there in her lover's arms. She had wanted to stay in that moment forever.

But nothing lasts forever.

For every happy moment, it seemed there were always two bad moments to even it out.

But still she ran, her heart still soaring as she came closer and closer to the red that had been on the horizon.

She didn't think it possible for her heart to travel higher but it did when her hopes came true. She stopped and stood still a foot in front of it.

A single red rose.

She couldn't take her eyes off it.

She stepped towards it and knelt down before it.

She reached out and grasped the stem, ignoring the stinging sensation as the thorns pierced the flesh of her soft palm.

She also ignored the red rivers that now ran from her hand and down the stalk.

She brought the rose to her nose and inhaled, closing her eyes to let the smell consume her.

There, in that moment, kneeling in a field of green grass, it was if she was there with her. She imagined that it wasn't a rose she smelt but she instead had her face nestled in her loves dark trestles. That was when Sharpay did the one thing she had not done in a long time.

She smiled.

She heard the crash of waves near her and opened her eyes to find her love not there. That was when reality drew her back in and her smile faded.

She stood back up and looked around for the first time.

She looked at the rose before clutching it tightly to her. She stepped forward to stand at the very edge of the cliff.

She let a single tear fall from her left eye. She now understood what she had to do.

She took a deep breath, drawing herself up to stand tall. Still with the rose in her clenched fist, she spread her arms wide as she lent forward.

_I love you Gabriella..._

* * *

**So that's it! The end!**

**Thanks to everyone who has...**

**Nah ****I'm**** only joking ya. I got a little twist more that ****I'm**** going to write...**

**Read on and found out what really happens in this story...**

* * *

"They say it could be months until she wakes up," a boy wearing a light black fedora hat which went perfectly with his velvety black shirt said turning to the raven haired girl stood in jeans and a white wife beater beside him.

They both stood in front of a panel of one-way glass. Beyond the glass lay a blonde girl in a bed. She was mostly covered by a white sheet. All the monitors' surrounding the girl were silent by specific request of the doctors. Nothing was allowed to disturb the seemingly sleeping girl.

"But she woke up this morning you said," the girl whispered, desperation evident in her voice. "You said she woke up and spoke to you."

The boy nodded solemnly and brought his hand to his chin. "Remember what they said though, we aren't meant to have any contact with her. Whatever she's going through, she has to do it on her own."

"But you helped her! You whispered to her! I know you did, I could see you!"

He reached out to hold her firmly before pulling her body to his. She tried to wriggle free of him but his strength won in the end.

"Gabriella calm down!" he spoke into her ear. The girl stopped her struggle. "Remember what they said. You can't have any contact with her, me this morning was just a fluke. I wasn't even meant to be in there!"

"She talked to Ry! You talked to her! I just want to know what happened."

The boy sighed and pushed the brim of his hat up. "She tried to talk but I wouldn't let her."

The girl opened her mouth but the boy silenced her with a finger. "I didn't let her talk because she tried to tell me what was wrong. I didn't want to know what was wrong because I knew I would try to help her and that's exactly what we're not supposed to do."

"But you talked back to her. I saw you whisper!"

The desperation in the girl's voice was heart breaking. The boy let her go and looked down at his black leather Italian shoes.

"'Twelfth Night'."

"What?"

"That was what I said to her."

"Wha... Why?"

"It's her favourite Shakespeare play. As a kid she would always say that we were the twins from it and that if we ever lost each other we didn't have to do anything, we would just keep on living our lives and we would find ourselves back together again."

He smiled to himself as he thought back to the times when they were young. Just as he was becoming doughy eyed he shook his head to shift aside the memories and to clear his vision.

"I thought if I said that to her it would help her come back to me quicker..."

He trailed off as his voice cracked as his throat swelled with emotion and tears came to his eyes.

Now it was the girls turn to step forward and to take the boy into her arms. His nose burned as the tears threatened to fall. But he sucked it up. He wouldn't let himself cry. He pulled himself out of the girl's arms and composed himself. He turned to look through the glass at the prone form of his sister.

It was an unbearable sight for him.

He couldn't stand to see his once strong sister with all kinds of tubes running in and out of her body. His eyes locked on the thick tube that went down her throat to help her breathe.

_She's just sleeping... that's all it is..._

He told himself that so many times he had himself fooled. But still he couldn't stand to look at her for too long. It was too distressing a sight.

He turned to find an afro with a head attached sticking around the door.

"We have to go," the afro said.

"I know," the boy replied.

The afro came out from behind the door to stand in front of both the girl and boy. He stayed there for a moment, gazing past them at the sight behind the glass. With a slight frown he stepped forward to take the girl in his arms.

"I'm sorry," he whispered to her before letting her go. "If I had gotten to you guys in the corridor sooner none of this would have happened. I would have been able to stop Troy and he wouldn't have..."

He didn't finish his sentence, to overcome with emotion. His boyfriend came up behind him and turned him round to hug him.

"It wasn't your fault," the other boy whispered.

"Yeah," the girl said stepping forward to run the boy's back which was now heaving with sobs. "There was nothing you could have done Chad."

The two boys let each other go and the boy in the hat gently led the other boy to the door by having a hand placed on his lower back. "You couldn't have stopped him killing Taylor."

At the mention of that name, tears welled up in the dark haired girls eyes.

With one boy out the door, the other hung back to look over at the crying girl. "Are you sure you're not coming to the funeral?"

"No, I'm ok. I'm just going to stay here, in case anything happens."

The boy gave her a sad smile before reaching out to hold her face. He used his thumbs to wipe away her tears. "He isn't going to be there you know."

"I know."

"It's ok if you're angry at him. We all are. If he is there, he better hope he has protection."

She smiled up at him for saying this. It was a pleasant sight, one he had not seen in over a month.

"That bastard put me in a coma, killed Taylor and did heavens knows what to my sister. I promise you, he's not going to get away with this."

At the mention of the girl's name, tears again flowed from her eyes. Again they were brushed away by the boy's thumbs.

He gave her one last hug before turning to go. He got as far as the door before he turned back to tell her, "Remember what they said, time will pass differently in her head. If she does wake up, she'll be disorientated."

She only nodded in response.

When the door closed, she chuckled to herself lightly. It was funny how people could confuse tears of sorrow and tears of guilt.

She turned back to look out of the glass. It had been a month since Sharpay had woken from her comatose state and had been questioned by the police. She remembered when she had been told that she had woken up only to go into what they called PVS when she had been shown the knife...

She sighed.

Her brother had woken a day after she had fallen 'asleep' again. The worst thing was, there was no rhyme or reason as to why she was like she was.

A month she had lived with this guilt eating her up inside. A month without anyone to talk to. A month and a week technically.

She couldn't do it anymore. She just couldn't.

* * *

Her eyelids fluttered open.

"Gabriella?" she tried to say only to find there was something sticking down her throat.

She gagged before reaching to pull it out. She sat up, choking on air. She looked around her to find herself in a white room.

Confused beyond belief, she found wires protruding from her. With a second thought she yanked them all out.

As she pulled the last one from her skin she heard a door click shut. She looked up to find a familiar face looking at her with smiling eyes.

"Doctor Kirby?"

"Yes," the smile turned to a look of utter puzzlement. "How did you know...?"

"Never mind," she grumbled. She moved to get up but found that her legs wouldn't support her.

"Miss Evans," Doctor Kirby said, rushing forwards to help her young patient back onto the bed. "You have been immobile for a month now, a little over. It is not advised that you attempt to stand so soon."

"What happened?" she demanded.

"After waking up and seeing the knife you went into a state of shock, after you calmed you didn't respond to any tests so we thought you were in PVS."

"Persistent Vegetative State?" she questioned.

"Yes."

"What?"

"You have been rather popular let me tell you."

It was a pathetic attempt to change the subject, but she allowed it nonetheless. She said nothing, letting the doctor continue.

"There have been three regular visitors for you. Your brother, a girl and another boy."

"A girl?" she asked, excited.

"Yes," the doctor replied as she rummaged through her pockets. "She left something for you."

She felt her heart drop out of her chest. The last time she had heard these words spoken by this woman, no good had come of it.

* * *

At the same time the doctor was rummaging through her pockets, a girl was sat across town in her dark room. The curtains were drawn and the lights were out. The usually bright room had been reduced to something similar to a dingy hovel.

She sat down on her sheets and reached for the gun she had set down there earlier.

* * *

"Here it is," the doctor said, brandishing a little envelope with a flourish. She handed it to the sullen faced girl before turning to leave. "I'm just going to get your charts, I'll be right back."

The girl on the bed gulped as her fingers fumbled with the envelope, sliding it open.

She reached inside, her fingers finding a wisp of paper.

* * *

There the girl sat, on her bed alone in a dark room.

Tears stained her face as she brought her hand up to her head. She faced forward not being strong enough to watch the hand, the hand which brought the gun up with it.

She drew in a quick breath as she clicked the hammer.

* * *

Sharpay's heart stopped as she read.

_Sharpay,_

_You must be awake. Good. I can't do this Sharpay. I can't see you like this and I can't stay here. Not after everything that has happened. Know that I will always love you my Mountain Lion._

_Forget me_

_Gabriella_

_X_

And with those words, so short and few, both girls worlds came crashing down.

**Thank you so much for reading this story. ****Thanks**** to everyone who has read this all the way through and reviewed at anytime. Thanks to everyone who has this story on their alerts and their favourites and thanks also to everyone who has me on their favourite author list or author alert.**

**Everyone who helped me write this story... YOU ALL ROCK!!!!!!!!! And the same goes to whoever added me to the 2 c2s this story is in and to the people who voted for this story in the slash ****awards****. I can't believe ****I**** won. You do all rocketh.**

**Leave a review telling me what you think of this ending. I don't think ****I**** wrote the twist as well as it deserved to be written.**

**If anyone has any questions, don't hesitate to ask me and ****I**** will try my best to answer.**

**Now ****I**** am going to concentrate on school wor****k for a bit. Ah who am I kidding? You know I can't resist writing this stuff.**

**Now I'm going to concentrate on my new story **_**Still There For Me **_**which is another Gabpay lol.**

**Cheers everyone!**

**R.F.L.C**

**X**


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